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Evzone little girls party frock fustanella, Hyde Park, July 5, 1969
1990: 146, 148-149; Rous 1998: lx, 51; Fogg 2003: 70;
Gorman 2006: 59). The following year, Fish memorably
wore a male dress, gold paisley jacket and scarf with
knee socks and buckled shoes for the In Group spread
by social photographer Patrick Lichfield in the August
1967 issue of Queen magazine (Lichfield 1986: 107108, 118, 120, 121; Orton & Lair 1986: 244-245; Stevens 1987: 17-18; Coleridge & Quinn 1987: 181-187;
Huxley-Parlour 2008: 11, 40, no. 23) (figure 2).
There was really nothing new in the idea. American
clothing designer and champion of dress reform Elizabeth
Hawes remarked in 1967: The Moroccans, the Arabs,
and the Greeks have been at it for years, not to mention
the Scots. The only time men blanche is when you call
it a skirt. If you say kilt, its all right (Lobenthal 1990:
157; Berch 1988: 186). Marshall McLuhan remarked in
1968: Men may adopt it; the tribal kilt, which survived
as page-boy skirt, was once the comfortable dress of
warriors (Lobenthal 1990: 139; McLuhan 1968i: 155,
159, 164, 166; McLuhan 1968ii: 29; McLuhan 1968iii:
131-134, 245). The French couturier Jacques Esterel was
in 1966 one of the first to make a skirt for men, later to
inspire Jean Paul Gaultier (Chenoune 1996: 10, 12, 74;
112
McDowell 2001: 66 [caption], 87, 95 [caption]; Worsley 2002: 79; Bolton 2003: 18, 21). Fish pronounced: I
have tried to break down the frontiers of man, but as
Gaultier has noted: The line between masculinity and
femininity can be a very troubled frontier (Cohn 1971:
145; McDowell 2001: 47).
Fish says that he had designed the frock slightly too
long, so that it did not look like a military tunic, but more
like a dress (Schofeld 1983: 168; Sims 1999: 114). It has
been suggested that the theme of sexual ambiguity and
the dangerous notion of wearing dresses was why Mick
Jagger chose a Michael Fish dress to appear at the Stones
Hyde Park gig in 1969 (and David Bowies overtly ambisexual Ziggy Stardust doppelganger 1972-73 refers
back to Jagger as a master of persona-skipping disguises,
including the Greek Evzone presidential guard-inspired
Michael Fish frock mistaken for a girls dress which Jagger had worn at the Hyde Park memorial show) (Altham
1966: 74; Dalton 1981: 122; Palmer 1983: 82, 89 [caption]; Hotchner 1990: 124, 354; Lobenthal 1990: 155;
Barnard 1993: 106, 109; Faithfull 1994: 140; Whiteley
1997: 67-78, 95; Sims 1999: 112-116; Paytress 2000: 3435, 69-79). Although Jaggers well-deserved reputation as
a girlie performer would also have influenced the interpretation of his fustanella as a girlie dress (and was
possibly pushing a from about 1966 pre-existing fashion
trend of unisex or reciprocal dressing to the edge in a provocative assertion of independent life-style), when seen in
the context of a wake which is, after all, a serious occasion such cross-dressing transgression cannot have been
Jaggers primary motive.
Saturday 5 July, a very hot day, was the day of the
biggest pop concert that the world had yet seen. It has
been claimed that Mick intended to wear a snakeskin
suit designed by Ossie Clark, but decided to wear the
white dress, as it was so hot (Wyman 1990: 536; Wyman
2002: 333; Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 132), and that
he switched at the last minute (Havers 2009: 115). But
heat is too simple an explanation for Jaggers outfit. At
5.25 p.m. the crowd burst into a frenzy of applause at the
announcement: The Stones want to play tonight for Brian. They went on stage led by Jagger in what one eyewitness termed the goddamnedest costume I ever saw
(Hotchner 1990: 329). As another commentator put it: It
says volumes for Jaggers self-confidence that, in front of
300,000 fans and a TV audience of millions, he chose to
come on like a 13-year-old at a school dance (Sandford
2003: 167). Along with his lipstick, rouge, eye-shadow
and chin-length wings of hair, a gold- or brass-studded
leather collar termed a choker or dog collar, studded
antique leather belt and wooden crucifix, Jagger wore
113
Fish had been to Greece for a holiday, and the silhouette that stuck in his mind was on the soldiers where
this extraordinary thing stuck up at the sides and had
pom poms... My God! If anyone in England wore that
imagine (Sims 1999: 114). Tourists can still see versions
of this outfit in Athens on the Evzones who guard the
tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Old Palace
building at Syntagma Square (Mylonas 1998: passim;
Zidianakis 2009: 95). The modern fustanella appears
in Greece worn by the Albanians, and especially the
Arvanites, as Greeks of Albanian ancestry were called,
most of whom fought alongside the Greeks against the
Turks in the long war of independence (Skafidas 2009:
148).3 It consisted of a wide-sleeved shirt and a multigored knee-length skirt made from many yards of linen
or cotton (Welters 1995: 61). The very short fustanella,
or fustanellitsa, as worn today by the picturesque presidential guard, for some appears to be a misinterpretation of the original (Welters 1995: 54; Skafidas 2009:
147-148). It is ironical to note how Fish complained at
Jaggers frock having been made too long (as compared
to the Greek palace guard original), when, in fact, the
greater length would have been the historically more
authentic; adding to the confusion is that the numerous
pleats or lagiolia of the fustanella are lacking in Jaggers
costume.
Stones member Charlie Watts remarked that Mick
looked fabulous with his Byron-style dress on (Loewenstein & Dodd 2003: 132). It is claimed that The
most famous English philhellene of his time, Lord Byron, fancied wearing the fustanella himself when he
went to Greece to fight alongside the Greeks (Skafidas 2009: 148). This is a myth. Following the outbreak
of the Greek revolution in 1821 against the Ottomans,
the British along with other European countries began
to organize assistance (St Clair 1983: 163; Eisner 1991:
115). George Gordon Noel, 6th Lord Byron (1788-1824)
volunteered for the cause, and at his landing at Missolonghi on 5 January 1824 he wore a splendid scarlet
coat with gold epaulettes (Minta 1998: 247; MacCarthy
2002: 490). The Greeks circulated a print of him wearing
a fustanella the unlikeliest garment in which it would
be possible to picture him, since he was lame (Langley
Moore 1971: 13) (figure 5).4 If Byron had never actively worn the fustanella, how can the myth that he
had done so have cropped up?
During earlier travels to Greece, Byron greatly admired what he recalled in the semi-autobiographical epic
poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage (1812-18), Canto II:
58: 514, as The wild Albanian kirtled to his knee (Minta 1998: 48; Byron/McGann 1980: 62). Childe Harold,
114
of boyhood that qualifies for the Hellenic and hedonistic ideal of art (Whiteley 1997: 91, 92). Other writers
have noted the compatibility in values centering on personal freedom, non-conformism and spirit of rebellion
(and drug use), promoted by both rock and romanticism:
The heroic figure common to both musical worlds of
Rock and Romanticism is the star performer-composer...
the dashing figure with a sensational if not scandalous
life style (Greckel 1979: 177-178, 192, 199-200). Jagger painted Jones as a heroic figure by framing him in
this context, and he did so broadly. He may even have
perceived himself as striking a glamorous figure, viz.
that of the glamorous, defiant Byronic hero (Thorslev
1962: 3-13; 185-199; Stein 2004: 8-34).
At another level Adonais accuses the forces of cultural reaction of murderous insensitivity, of actually killing John Keats who, unlike Shelley, could not sustain
the abuse with which his creations were met (Scrivener
1982: 273). As Jagger ended his reading of Shelleys
words, the stage crew picked up brown cardboard boxes that had been placed onstage earlier and shook them
outward, releasing several hundred white butterflies as a
symbolic gesture, intended to flutter en masse towards
the heavens to emulate Brians soul. The butterflies may
also have alluded to the drug sentences of Keith Richard,
Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, having given occasion for
the Times editorial on 1st July 1967: Who Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel? (Fryer 1967: 10; Dalton 1972: 70-73;
Carr 1976: 46). The butterfly gesture thus provided Jagger with an opportunity for, like Shelley, publicly attacking his established detractors Jaggers own as well
as of the contemporary London Underground which
he represented: We will wear what we want, do what we
want (Scrivener 1982: 273; Fryer 1967: 7-20).
Jagger then unbuttoned his dress and peeled it off.
It has been claimed that he made fashion history and
surely established another first by being the first man
to take off a dress in public (Wyman 1990: 536). The
Stones played for just under an hour and the concert ended at around 6.15 p.m. Keith Richards aptly sums it up:
Hyde Park was important, not because of the musical
content but because it was one of the largest gatherings
ever held in London. There was a powerful feeling that
there were a lot of us, that things were changing, that we
had something to give. By then we were being leant on
aggressively by the authorities, so to us it was a great
show of solidarity. It must have made them tremble a
bit down the road at Whitehall (Loewenstein & Dodd
2003: 135). The feeling of the Stones lethargic and not
up to par performance as well as some misadventures
(such as most of the butterflies having died while wait116
ing to be released), have been allowed to colour the interpretation of this event as having been poorly organised
and in poor taste. Much did go wrong that day (although
there is some disagreement as to how much did in fact go
wrong) due to the heat, the jarring juxtaposition of two
settings (an original African tropical one and an improvised Greek classical romanticist one), the still relatively
unsophisticated audio technology of the time, the Stones
not having been adequately rehearsed along with their
being distraught and disoriented by the untimely demise
of the bands original founder, Brian Jones. Contrary to
the intentions of Jagger expressed through his romanticist Greek-inspired symbolism, of reinforcing the ideals
of the countercultural Underground, events surrounding the concert itself as well as subsequently notably
Altamont suggested a change, a beginning decline, that
retrospectively has been allowed to taint perceptions of
the Stones frock n roll show at Hyde Park.
To conclude: However improvised Hyde Park may
have been, this was a coordinated mise en scne, which
Jaggers frock must be considered a part of. Jagger
had placed himself in a quasi-Shelleyan pose in treating
Joness death in a manner analogous with that of Keats
having been the Adonais of Shelleys poem, as well as
by wearing a Byronic costume and thus retaining his
branding as a heroic hedonist. His little girls white
party frock must be seen in this context. The fact that
Michael Fish, who had designed the frock, was known
to be into ethnic design suggests that Jagger was aware
of the frock having had a Greek inspiration, and that its
Greek character had set in motion a train of associations that ended up thematising the memorial over Jones
at Hyde Park. The publics reaction to Jaggers costume
was a mixture of confusion and misunderstanding, shock
and scandal. Although this undoubtedly was part of
what Jagger had intended, his wearing it on the occasion
of a memorial concert for Jones was also meant to be
symbolic, drawing on English romanticism in a special
pleading on behalf of the rock star as a persecuted artist.
The frock episode can thus be seen as a contextualized
artefact as well as an artefact of context.
1. Apart from Richard Havers recently published lavishly illustrated
account in his The Stones in the Park, descriptions of the Hyde Park
concert are in: Cannon 1969: 62; Logan 1969: 2-3/134-35; Welch
1969: 14/133; Neville 1970: 108-22; Neville/Dalton 1972: 136-44;
Scaduto 1974: 22-27; Sanchez 1979 (1996): 159-63; Miles 1982:
34; Palmer 1983: 164; Schofield 1983: 168-69; Aldridge 1984: 93;
Hotchner 1990: 329; Wyman 1990: 532-38; Jackson 1992: 219-22;
Andersen 1993: 209, 213-14; Barnard 1993: 98; Miles 1994: 55; Bonanno 1997: 91; Karnbach & Bernson 1997: 23, 130; Holland & Loewenstein 1998: 89; Paytress 1999: 97; Davis 2001: 296-97; Norman
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Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Penny Breia of Lichfield Studios Limited,
Rosa Florou, President of the Messolonghi Byron Society, Sophia
Handaka and the staff of the Benaki Museum, Athens, and Caroline
J. Benson of the Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading for their invaluable assistance rendered in connection with the
illustrations for this article. Special thanks to Thanassis Yapijakis for
calling my attention to A.I. Papastauros with its
images of Byron in Greece. Thanks to Cherine Munkholt, The Danish National Research Foundations Centre for Textile Research, and
to Dr. phil. Mogens Pelt, Saxo Institute, Dept. of History, University
of Copenhagen for their comments to a draft version of my paper. Finally I would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Danish
National Research Foundations Centre for Textile Research.
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