My fashion word of the year is “Zazz.” I came across it in this September 1966 Harper’s Bazaar editorial the other week and have taken it as my new code (though I’ve honestly been too sick to actually embody it in public)—if I were to do one of those in/out lists that have been all the rage on Instagram, “zazz” would be very “in.”
Zazz is neither cute nor kook nor yet quite classic (in the old, outmoded sense). It’s cooler, keener, immensely quick on the fashion curves—tweeds that glitter, feathers that flash, fur that gleam with color. The color bazazzle that makes this scene is green, green, green—in every potency from pale-sea to poison.
The editorial, photographed by forever innovative Hiro, features looks by famous designers like Oscar de la Renta (then at Jane Derby), Bill Blass (for Maurice Rentner), Chester Weinberg, Malcolm Starr, Originala (pre-Richard Assatly) as well as some lesser-known names like Marquise and Mr. Fred. One page is devoted to Rudi Gernreich’s iconic peacock headdress, which can be seen in movement the fashion show clip below. While “zazz” was pushed with green, archetypally mid-60s silhouettes, I’m leaning into it as more of a mood. It’s an exuberance of shape, of colour, of sparkle and texture. It’s a feeling pinballing through the decades from 1966 to now—one that can take in any fashion look you desire, as long as it has that “bazazzle” (though I am definitely keeping an eye out for any fabulous poison or emerald pieces during my vintage trawls).
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