1960s Fashion Models

I have been sorting a lot of Hayfield pattern leaflets in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection recently.  (Hayfield was the brand name of John C. Horsfall & Sons Ltd., based near Keighley, one of many yarn-spinning companies in West Yorkshire in the decades after WW2 - now Hayfield is a Sirdar brand.)  I wrote here about some Hayfield patterns from the 1980s.  In the recent sort, a few patterns from the 1960s caught my eye, because I recognised the models.

Hayfield 494

Hayfield 495

In 1966, Hayfield issued four patterns "Designed by Vogue Knitting", and the model on two of them was Grace Coddington, then a top model who frequently appeared in (British) Vogue.  She subsequently became creative director of American Vogue, and featured in the 2009 documentary The September Issue.

The four pattern leaflets were, as you would expect, advertised in Vogue Knitting.  Oddly, one of the other patterns is modelled in the ad by Twiggy, I think - hard to be sure, because her face is partly hidden by a large flower.  The model on the leaflet is definitely not the same person.  Wonder why they switched models?

It's unusual to see the top fashion models, who normally inhabit the glossy magazines, appearing on pattern leaflets.  But in 1969, Marisa Berenson also appeared on a Hayfield leaflet.  Like Grace Coddington, she was seen frequently in Vogue at that time, and appeared on several Vogue covers, for instance in July 1970.  In the 1970s, she moved into acting and appeared in several films.

Hayfield 659

The Marisa Berenson leaflet was featured in a Hayfield ad, and perhaps that was the reason for choosing a top model.  It seems to have been a special case - as far as I know, she did not model for any other Hayfield leaflets, or for any other spinners' leaflets.  She can rarely have modelled anything as mundane as an Aran cardigan.