| It's incredible to think that when I started writing | | | | clodhoppers, they were the 'must-have' accessories. |
| "Frantic" at the beginning of the Seventies, the clothes | | | | London trendies imported them from the States at an |
| of that period are still in vogue today. Alice, "Frantic's" | | | | affordable cost, and as soon as the bulky sandals |
| heroine wore 'an authentic Coco Chanel sheath | | | | collapsed, they would immediately order another pair. |
| (purchased from the Chelsea Antique Market), which | | | | They made a comfortable change from the platform |
| moved like a slither of black and white lilies,' when she | | | | shoes all the girls were running around in at the time. |
| went backstage to see The Riverbleeds, a rock group | | | | When I wasn't breaking my ankles in platforms, I used |
| in "Frantic". If that dress hadn't disintegrated, I'd still be | | | | to alternate my clomping Birkenstock look-a-likes with |
| wearing it to parties. Chelsea Antique Market wasn't | | | | my silver Anello & David silver dance shoes. |
| the only market where you could buy scrumptious | | | | Manolo Blahnik shoes designed his first collection of |
| second hand clothes. Kensington Market was also a | | | | shoes for an Ossie Clark fashion show in 1972. They |
| popular hang-out for second hand dresses, now selling | | | | were so classical, they could still easily be worn today, |
| for a fortune in vintage shops. | | | | and would look more fashionable than ever. I |
| Mr Freedom in Kensington was a popular boutique. | | | | remember one pair he gave me: a pair of black and |
| The owner was a man called Tommy Roberts who | | | | gold, silk skyscraper heeled shoes, which I ran around |
| had a very successful boutique called Kleptomania in | | | | in during every waking hour. In "Frantic", Alice bought a |
| Carnaby Street during the Sixties. His clothes could | | | | pair of 'exquisite rose-petal high heel shoes' from his |
| easily be worn today. For instance, I bought a pair of | | | | Chelsea shop. In those days, even Manolo's shoes and |
| turquoise platform soled booties and a postbox red, | | | | the non-vintage clothes were affordable. Ossie Clark |
| double-breasted trouser suit (both of which Alice wore | | | | costumes with Celia Birtwell's original prints, so |
| in "Frantic"), which I would still be wearing over three | | | | fashionable and fairly cheap in the Seventies, are now |
| decades later, if they hadn't been stolen. | | | | sold in Vintage stores at a million per cent mark up |
| You didn't need a lot of money to dress well in the | | | | from the original price. |
| early Seventies. Birkenstock styled sandals first | | | | Now, you need a mortgage just to feel the fabulous |
| became fashionable then, and although they looked like | | | | fabrics of the Seventies. |