Thea Porter

Thea Porter - Queen of Flower Power

When you think of fashion designers of the 1960s and 1970s, who comes to mind? There's Rudi Gernreich with his avant-garde ideas, Givenchy, who dressed Audrey Hepburn in classy styles, or Mary Quant and her mini-dresses. Another name to keep in mind is that of Thea Porter. Known as the queen of flower power, Thea Porter created fantastic, graceful clothes based on memories of her childhood in Damascus and her own otherworldly imagination.

Born Dorothea Seale, a minister's daughter, in Jerusalem on Christmas Eve 1924, she moved to Beirut to attend university and there married Bob Porter of the British Embassy. When they separated a few years later, she took her daughter Vanessa and moved to London to become an interior decorator. Fired from a prestigious shop for recommending satin drapery to a client, she started her own business making floor cushions. When a shipment of beautiful caftans arrived, she added a few stylish trimmings and began her signature line of Arab-inspired clothing.

Thea Porter had a knack for discovering gorgeous fabrics hidden away in forgotten warehouses. She made them into gowns, skirts, cloaks, scarves and jackets, clothing men as well as women in garb of mythic fantasy. Rock musicians of the period, with their romantic hippie sensibilities, loved her clothes. Guitarist Andy Summers wore a red and green Porter coat with bell sleeves and gold thread. He called it his wizard's coat, associating the style with the fairy stories of J.R.R. Tolkien. Syd Barrett and his girlfriend Lindsay both wore Porter ensembles. Christine McVie was often photographed wearing Porter-designed gypsy dresses and head scarves.

Her clothes were often featured in elite fashion magazines during the 1960s and 1970s, and people of fame and wealth came from all over the world to sample her wares. She was known as an honest, friendly and generous woman. Even in her elder years, when Alzheimer's disease had stolen her memory, she was still giving away gemstones at parties and relating fantasies about her beloved grandchildren.

Unfortunately, the one quality Ms. Porter lacked was business sense. She did not know how to market herself and was not particularly interested in publicity. This is probably why her name is so little remembered today, although her styles are still deeply associated with the dreamy idealism of the 1960s. She was truly the queen of the flower children.

If you want to adopt a Thea Porter-type look, visit antique clothing stores and seek out velvet, satin and silk in rich colours. Look for long lines, elegant drapery, a "gypsy" or Bohemian look, an air of mysterious fascination. Make yourself a few caftans. Some of her patterns were even published by Simplicity and Butterick. Romance is always in style.