Is That Kathy?

This week we're going to do something a little different.  During the course of my important historical research on the big book catalogs of the early to mid 70s, I have run across a number of images which I cannot positively identify as being Kathy Loghry.

It began back when this blog first began when, during an internet search, I ran across a pic on another site which was labeled as Colleen Corby and Kathy Loghry.  At that time, I didn't have many pics of Kathy and, quite frankly, was sort of running out of pics of her to post.  So imagine my disappointment when I pulled up this pic...

That is Colleen on the left.  However, the blond is definitely NOT Kathy Loghry.  Pretty gal, nice pic, and all, but not her.  I, myself, have misidentified Colleen on a previous post.  People, such sloppiness cannot be tolerated!  After all, this is critically important historical work!  The fashion trends of the 70s must be PROPERLY chronicled.  To not do this thing correctly would  be a great disservice to future generations of historians.

That is why I humbly turn to you, gentle readers, to help me in this endeavor.  I have listed several pics which I cannot positively identify as Kathy.  Please look over them and, if you think a pic is Kathy, please mark the box for that pic on the poll shown on the right (you can make more than one selection).  If you do not think any of these pics are Kathy, please mark the "None are Kathy" box (so I know how many votes are cast).  I will, naturally, add my own comments to each pic.  The poll will run for one week and end on Sept. 5, 2013 at 7:00 PM CDT.

First up is an ad for Lee Jeans....

Typical of these pics, we do not have a clear shot of the face and there is a hat which hinders identification. Further, I haven't found any other pics of Kathy in Lee Jeans ads.  Still the face does kinda look like her.  I give this one a 50% chance.

Next up is a JCP catalog pic from 1971....

At first glance, one may not think this is Kathy (gal on the upper right).  However, Kathy wore her hair in that length and style in other pics from the same catalog.   I'm actually fairly certain that this is Kathy but need more confirmation.  I'm giving this one a 75% chance of being Kathy.  As a bonus, the gal on the left may be Karen?

Next up is a pic from a Sears catalog.....

Such a serious look!  "Adventure in Fashion" indeed!  Of course what we are serious about is "Is That Kathy". This one I'm not too sure about.  Once again we do not have a clear shot of the face and there is  head gear present to further complicate identification.  There are also several other catalog models that could fit this profile.  I give this one only 25%.

The next one is more of a long shot...

Yep, that is Shelley Hack on the right, no doubt (nice hat).  However, the blond?  Is that Kathy?  Once more, a profile shot only and a hat makes our job difficult.  I only give this one 10%.

Finally a REAL long shot, but if it is Kathy, what a historical find!

The gal on the left is one in question.  This was labeled as being from a 1963 Montgomery Wards catalog.  If that date is correct, then Kathy would be way too young.  Unless, unless, she started to model at a much younger age than previously thought.  If that is true, wow, what a find!  It would completely upend the accepted timeline of her career!  It would be a game changer!  Of course the date could be in error also. Still, I'm giving this less than 5% chance.

So please give me your feedback and vote!  Of course, if you know positively about any of these, pelase feel free to comment!

Hot Pants - Still Kicky (Part 2)

Yippee!  Hot Pants again!  Last time we looked at Hot Pants, we entered some kind of weird time travel loop where the past wrote the future and the future wrote about the past!  You can blame Aldens catalog for that with their "Hot Pants - Kicky" theme.  So now we venture into the breech once more with offerings from the other Big Books.  What adventures in Hot Pant-ness await this time?

Yippee! Kathy in some stylish blue hot pants ensemble from Spiegel.  Definitely a groovy blast from the past that is still mod looking in the present!  You gotta love the white go-go boots and nifty knit hat!    I'm not sure what Karen is wearing.  Those are pants, but with animal prints on them, they are definitely not "hot". Based on her expression, perhaps she just came out of a time travel loop from a previous post?

So Spiegel started us off pretty good.  However, I bet JCP and Sears had some "kicky" hot pants also!

Yippee again! Kay in hot pants, and knit ones to boot!  Speaking of "boots", it looks like the model on the left lost most of hers!  

Yippee again!  Here,we have Shelley Hack in "short shorts" and a halter.  While short shorts probably deserve to classified in their own category, I'm not sure it is worth quibbling about.

In the mid-70s, short shorts were not just reserved for the "Juniors' section. Oh no, no, no!  Here Joan McMonagle and Joanne Vitelli model some really classy shorts!

Well, those are short pants. However, they are pushing the edge as to what can be considered "hot pants" or "short shorts".   Perhaps here we have an example of that transition in fashion trends where the short shorts begin to fall way to longer shorts. (Sigh, not all fashion developments were for the better, unfortunately).

Okay, okay, Kathy is in a smashing outfit that kinda of looks like a uniform and not in hot pants.  What gives?  Well Karen is wearing hot pants, so well that is close enough.  Besides Kathy is still kicky hot!

Well that about wraps up this edition of Hot Pants - Kicky".  Oh wait, not enough 70s fashion craziness for you?  Not enough bizarro hip and happenin' groovy 70s-ness for you?  Well let's see what we can do about that!

Wow! (Yippee, I guess?). From right to left we have: Karen (in a wig)  in some kinda of German-themed Hot Pants, Kathy (in a wig also) wearing some kind of wild patterned dress, next we have red short shorts (in a nautical theme, no less, complete with white boots/sandals), and finally Karen again wearing something actually fairly lame.  If that doesn't get your 70s fashion freak going nothing will!

Well, anyway, everyone seems to be having a good time.  And isn't that what 70s fashions were all about?

Random Weirdness: 70s Fall Fashion Fun - Part 1!

Well, why not follow up a summer themed post on swimsuits with our first look at 70s Fall Fashions!  I mean is that allowed?  We'll I guess, it's not like anyone is going to stop us!  The Big Book Fall / Winter editions were filled with lots of groovy 70s fashions just like their Sping Summer counterparts.  However, they had to keep it seasonal.  After all, Autumn is a more subdued time of the year compared to summer and everyone had to dress more conservative for back-to-school, so no room  for any 70s Random Weirdness.  Right?

Well, apparently Not!  I'm not sure what those things are on Kathy's dress, but hey, they're kickin' it 70s style for sure!  Kinda looks like a cross between some sort of spacesuit and a Roman centurion's armor -except it's green, and it's corduroy.    Whatever it is, it is perfect for that first day back at class!

Now that's more like it!  Fairly  standard stuff.  Both Kay and Kathy look uber-cute in their Fall short dresses.

Not all the Fall dresses were short.  Here are some examples of some long dresses.  Now I ask you, where in the heck would one wear one of these creations?  Oh I see, the middle one would be perfect for one of those Rennesaince Fairs.  You know, where everyone dresses up in attire from the Middle Ages and talks like Shakespear.  Except normally, good looking woman like these are a rarity at those kind of things (actually women, period, are a rarity at those things).

Not all the Fall back-to-school fashions were dresses, no siree!  Here, Kathy is absolutely dapper (is that an appropriate adjective to describe a woman?) in some kind of odd red long sleeve shirt with red pants complete with stripes, some kind of yellow scarf and a green knit hat. Whew, that is a lot of "Random 70s Weirdness" to absorb with one pic!  Mercifully Karen and the other model (still haven't figured out her name) give us a rest with standard Fall short dresses.

Kathy is really going Randomly Weird with the crazy pants outfits here!  Now she is in something with an ENTIRE landscape printed on her outfit.  Perfect if one is getting homesick for the great outdoors!

Speaking of pants.....

Ahhhhh, (brwing, brwing, brwing, brwing, brwing, brwooong) Crimson and Clover (brwing, brwing, brwing, brwing, brwing, brwooong) over and over!... These two are really grooving in these ensembles! (1) The tagline is great "You're a girl who makes her own kind of music and who likes jumbled-up patterns..."  Huh?!?  Well I guess everyone in the 70s liked jumbled-up patterns - especially when tripping out!  As an additional Randomly Weird 70s bonus, check out the hip footwear and make-love-not-war rope belts!

Man, I gotta take a break from that - too many bad flashbacks.  Let's try to end on something normal, okay?

Oh no, from acid tripping in the early 70s to some kind of faux western wear in the mid 70s.  That's it!  Too much 70s Random Weirdness for me!  Maybe all those 70s summer fashions weren't all that out of line after all!

footnotes:

(1) Sorry for the poor scan quality of this pic.  Sometimes these old catalogs are rather fragile and difficult to get a good scan.  However, in this case I felt the groovy vibe of the material outweighed my limited technological capabilities.

Sizzlin' Sears Swimsuits - Part 4, Print Ads - Part 3

Okay, okay, now the different categories are blurring together.  Is this a swimwear post, Part 4 or a print ad post, Part 3?  Heck, WHO CARES.  Let's check 'em out!!!!

Sears had an ad campaign in the 70s for their swimsuits where you "Buy the top that fits / Buy the bottom that fits."  At the time I admit that I didn't get that that they meant the STYLE not the actually swimsuit. At the time I asked myself  "Why would anyone want a red top with a blue bottom?"  Yeah, I guess I was a bit of a doufus (but give me a break, I was just a kid).

And how did Sears advertise this concept?  Why of they had the models stand in waist deep water, side by side (yeah, you see that everyday at the beach) and stare into a blindly bright sun!  These gals are trying their best, but let's face it - they look in pain!  While they appear to be laughing, they are actually thinking "Hey, photographer, hurry up already, will ya!"  However, our Kathy bravely risks her eyesight for her art as she fixes her gaze straight ahead!

Another similar shot.  However this time it is Colleen grimacing in the straight away pose.  Kathy and the other model (1) have elected to try and save her eyesight by looking off the right.

Now, finally, they decided "Hey, why don't you gals look AWAY from the sun!"  They all look MUCH more at ease in this one (and Kathy looks absolutely amazing! Was she smokin' hot or what!?!).  Still, three beautiful models, arm-in-arm, standing in waist deep water, soooo natural (yeah, right).

Looks like the sun isn't quite so bright in this shot, and the models seem so much more at ease.  In fact, they are so happy that we have, not one, not two, but three of them doing the famous "flamingo" pose in response (2).

FINALLY, someone said "Hey, why don't the models wear sunglasses?  That might make it easier to pose while facing the sun while we get the shot."  Once again, Kathy absolutely kills this shot.  Even with sunglasses, her smile outshines the sun!


footnotes:

(1) The model in the middle is Joyce Ingalls.

(2) The "flamingo" pose was aptly named in a previous post by astute reader LBP! We'll be on the lookout for similar poses in the future!

K Club Special Part 3 - Colleen Corby

For our third in our series of "K Club Specials" (1) we feature Colleen Corby (2) (3).  Now Colleen was crazy wild in the catalog modeling, but before that she was awesomely huge in the teen magazine world.  Like all the other "K Clubbers", her career was Looonnnnnggggg!!  However, her's was particularly so.  She started professionally modelling in late 50s and continued into the early 80s!   Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?

So let's check out her career! Here are some EARLY pics.  

From 1962!  Man, does she look incredible or what!

Yeah, she was in a HECK of a lot of print ads in the 60s, like the above and below...

Of course, she was probably more well known in the 60s for her appearance in teen mags than anything else. She was, literally, a heroine to millions of young teens in the 60s.  Here are just a FEW samples....

And here...

That's one Seventeen cover, but there are about 100 more to chose from. Man was she dominant in the day!

Naturally, we know Colleen best from the Big Book catalogs, and it is a testament to her career that she modeled in the catalogs after she had made it big otherwise...

A classic Colleen pose from 1971.  She had the unique ability to hit that serious, high fashion look and yet maintain that sweet innocence that was the mark of the K Clubbers and their associates.   She was the perfect transition model from the 60s to the early 70s, but wait even with that she is not done yet!

A smiling Colleen, I'm always looking for those pics.  She normally went for the high fashion, serious poses, but she looks absolutely fabulous when she flashes that big smile!

Classic Colleen catalog posing, beautiful, such an iconically pretty gal!  Both of the above pics are from 1976, near the end of her career.

Karen and Colleen in a gorgeous pic, precious.  These gals rocked it big time back in the day (4)!

A final pic for this first post featuring Colleen.  For this I picked a personal favorite.  Here, she looks so soft and sweet and SEXY!, YEAH!  (Oh yeah, she was a hottie!). 

Colleen retired in 1978 but made a brief comback in 1980.  After that, she retired for good.  Later, she made two more public apperances.  The last one being on the Oprah show in the mid-90s.  Oprah related how Colleen was her favorite model growing up.

Colleen in 2008.

footnotes:

(1) For those of you who are new to this site, "K Club" is term that I use for four of the main catalog models in from the 70s: Kay Campbell, Karen Bruun, Colleen Corby, and, of course, Kathy Loghry.  All of their names begin with a hard K sound, hence the name.

(2) I'm sure some of you astute readers are thinking "Hmmm, he has done three K Club Special posts highlighting the careers of a different K Clubber.  I wonder who is only one left?"  And I'm also sure that these same astute readers are thinking "Hey, each of these K Club Special posts are spaced about 6-7 weeks apart, and well, what-do-you-know! in 6 weeks is the one year anniversary of this blog!"  I'm sure it is all just a coincidence.

(3) There are a TON of pics of Colleen out there on the internet especially compared to the other K Clubbers. In addition, she has a couple of fan sites out there already.  So I tried to include some original pics here for all you Colleen fans.

(4) Please look at this pic closely again, it is pure art!  One of the things I've learned in doing this blog is how incredible some of the photos were from those old catalogs.  The look of Karen and Colleen playing off of each other is absolutely brilliant! (yeah, this photo rocks it!).  I hope this blog does a little to preserve these classic pics before they are lost to time.