Tributes paid to influential Welsh artist Molly Parkin

Stephen Price

Tributes have been paid to renowned artist, fashion writer and icon of the ‘swinging sixties’ Molly Parkin following her death at the age of 93.

Confirming the news, her daughter Sophie wrote simply: “Molly Parkin…extraordinary human, has left the building”.

Mollie Parkin was an artist who went on to become the fashion editor of Harpers & Queen and the Sunday Times magazine in the 60s.

Notorious for her partying lifestyle, her favourite Soho drinking partner was the painter Francis Bacon and she was famed for her outrageous lifestyle, sense of wit and provocative fashion style.

Ahead of a feature on her artwork during her mid 80s, the BBC wrote: “You’d be hard pressed to find a more colourful life than that of Molly Parkin”.

Parkin was born on 3 February 1932 in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan. She and her family moved to London to live with her grandparents when the Second World War began in 1939. Wales and her Welshness were an important part of her identity throughout her life, however – with her later art reflecting landscapes of her former home town.

In 1949 Parkin gained a scholarship to study fine art at Goldsmiths College, London, and then a scholarship to Brighton College of Art.

After marriage, she became a teacher, painting throughout this period. To support her two daughters, Parkin then turned to fashion. After making hats and bags for Barbara Hulanicki at Biba, and working alongside Mary Quant, she opened her own Chelsea boutique, which was featured in a Newsweek article about Swinging London.

She sold the shop to business partner Terence Donovan, then joined Nova magazine in 1965, when the radical Dennis Hackett became its editor.

David Gibbs’ comprehensive anthology of Nova pages and images says of Parkin: “A dynamic sense of colour and design was all she needed to guide her. Unfettered by the accepted wisdom of the fashion system, she introduced an unconventional and startling view of what women could wear… always teasing the edges of taste… She set the standard.”

In her two years as fashion editor, the flamboyant Parkin raised the bar with her coverage – shot by the new generation of young photographers – that again affirmed the Swinging City, which Time magazine reported in 1966 as the hub of creativity and hedonism.

Parkin moved on to become fashion editor of Harpers & Queen in 1967, and The Sunday Times in 1969, being named Fashion Editor of the Year in 1971. After becoming a television personality in the 1970s, Parkin was banned from the BBC for swearing.

After the publication of her autobiography Moll: The Making of Molly Parkin in 1993, Parkin started painting again, with her first exhibition in more than a decade at the Washington Gallery in Penarth.

Much of her new work was inspired by Welsh landscapes, in particular Pontycymer—although she also found her travels in India moved her to produce more vibrantly coloured works. In October 2010, her memoirs Welcome to Mollywood were published.

Artist Mark Wardel wrote on Facebook: “The amazing Molly Parkin has died . I was honoured to be asked to paint her official 80th. Birthday portrait for a BBC Wales film about her life back in 2012… . Another unique person has checked out from Planet Earth. Requiescat In Pace.”

Singer Sarah Jane Morris wrote: “My darling Molly I’ve just heard the news that you are no longer with us. I am bereft as I have known you and loved you since I was 21 years old and was booked to sing at your party. The party was outrageous and so my darling were you.

“I loved you then, I love you now and I thank you for all the adventures and for letting me be part of your incredibly exciting life.

“All my love goes to Sophie, Sarah and all the wonderful grandchildren that you loved so much . Molly Parkin I bloody love you and I will miss you so much.”

While fellow artist Daniel Lismore wrote: “Molly was truly something. Every time I saw her I loved her company. She was sharp, warm, brilliant to talk to.

“An incredible artist and a total one-off. Thinking of her family and friends. She’ll be missed.”