Olivia Hussey remains one of the most iconic beauties of the 60s for me, along with Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. God, she was sheer perfection. I was a very awkward 13 year old in 1968 when The Franco Zeffirelli production of Romeo and Juliet came out. Of course, I trundled off to the movies and saw the fantastic production starring her and Leonard Whiting (who was extremely dreamy). It was completely riveting!
Not only being a movie fan, I was an avid fashion magazine devotee. Playing off her Juliet role and exquisite beauty, Olivia Hussey had a great advertising run with the iconic Yardley of London. They had the new Poetry Collection of lipfrost lipsticks, with shades such as Juliet’s Blush, Romeo Red, Balcony Amber, and Poetic Pink; Yardley’s new love poem for lips, and soft and silver-touched. All so wonderfully romantic for us dreamy-eyed teens.
Olivia also advertised Yardley’s Next to Nothing Makeup. With her flawless English complexion, she was perfect for the ad. But for me and my pimples, this was truly stretching it to think it would ever work for me. But I did get to dream a bit of having perfect skin, ethereal beauty, and a Romeo of my own. The enigmatic and gorgeous Olivia Hussey made me think it so.
~Marilyn Huttunen
I'm Marilyn, and I'm obsessed with vintage clothing, thrift stores, clotheslines, and Chanel. Welcome to my down-to-earth world!
Dear Marilyn, I came across these pics of Olivia Hussey and wanted to comment on your comments…. I was a huge fan of hers and I always will be. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s when Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton were also very popular. I had the opportunity to meet Jean at a fashion show. She was very pretty and she seemed shy. Loved that whole era! So glad we were able to live at that time. It was such a cool period in our lives. Thank you for your pics.
Diane
Hi Diane,
Yes, it certainly was a really cool time! So much beauty and mod glamour. I’m glad I got to experience it as a young girl; it was so much more mysterious and ethereal than today’s in-your-face everything.
That is so neat that you got to meet “The Shrimp”, I’m jealous! 😀
I have several other blog posts about Olivia Hussey and Jean Shrimpton, if you want to poke around my blog.
~Marilyn
Dear Marilyn, Thanks for getting back to me. Yes! I would love to see your blogs about Olivia. I am so in love with all that stuff from the late 60’s- early 70’s… So yes…. Whatever you want to share I will be glad to see it…. Can’t wait… Thanks, Diane
Dear Marilyn, I found your site again and I really enjoy your comments about the beautiful girls of the 60’s and early 70’s. Especially Olivia Hussey. She was and still is my favorite! I am collecting photos and posters from Romeo and Juliet that I frame and use as art on my walls. It’s getting to be quite costly but it makes me happy.
I love your posts! So glad you were able to have the same experiences as me with all the Mod “stuff” and the beautiful people. Thanks for sharing….
Diane
Thanks, Diane! I am a bit obsessed with that time period, as it was a pretty impressionable time for me. It really was so cool in so many ways. Wish we had more female icons like those of that time period — where they were a bit mysterious and we didn’t know every detail of their private life!
~Marilyn
Hi Marilyn! I was wondering if you could help me…. I am interested in purchasing a vintage Seventeen magazine from 1968. It has Cybill Shepherd and other models on the cover. It’s dated December 1968.
Do you think or even know if Olivia Hussey’s Yardley ad will be in that issue. If anyone would know it would be you!
Thanks….. Diane
Hi Diane, OF COURSE I happen to have this issue – it was right on top of my stack o’ magazines! The ads on this blog post are not in this issue, but there is the really pretty colorful Yardley Oh! de London ad (page 54), with Olivia smiling and wearing a wreath of flowers in her hair. “Oh! Romeo Romeo Oh! Falling in Love Oh! Happy Dizzy Wonderful World Oh! Rapture. It is one of my favorite ads of hers. Plus the issue is really lovely.
~Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, Thank you for always responding to my quirky questions.
Well maybe you can help me by telling me which issue of Seventeen would have the other Yardley ads. I have the one with the flowers.
The strange thing about all of this searching is that I once had these ads, these and so many other magazines. I got rid of them one day and how I regret doing so:-(. Anyway it would be so helpful if you could check for me.
You are really sweet!
Thanks!
Diane
P.S. Olivia accepted my friend request on FB. I am in heaven! Me and a million other people she accepted!!!! Now if I could only get in touch with Mr. Whiting…….
Hi Diane,
Without having to dig through my magazines again, I believe that these ads are from the October 1968 issue of Glamour magazine, not Seventeen. Glamour had a smaller page size and I was able to fit the whole ad in my scanner. 🙂
~Marilyn
Dear Marilyn,
Thank you so much for your response. It’s always nice to hear from you.
Diane
I, too, was a young teen when Romeo & Juliet was released in 1968. I remember seeing it in February of 1969 with some school friends. I cut out every single ad in Seventeen Magazine which featured Olivia Hussey and still have them. As you note above, she modeled for Yardley. I am so glad we can find a lot of these ads so quickly on the internet. I loved Yardley makeup and Mary Quant makeup. I wish both companies still made cosmetics. I also loved the Love products, especially the Lemon scented everything! Please keep posting these ads. Also, in the late 1960’s-early 1970’s, Kraft Foods had two-page full ad placements for their products with little stories (i.e., like a group of teens were having a bake sale, or going away for the summer, etc.). One of them was a take on Shakespeare. I think it was called “Midsummer Faire” or something like that. It would have been in one of the summer issues. Anyway, they featured an ethereal-type of meal made with Kraft products for all “Juliets in search of Romeos” … I distinctly liked the angel-food cake made with raspberries. This shows that many products were getting in on the popularity of this movie through their ads. I have the ad; a local public library has bound volumes of Seventeen and I’ve gone through them and copied the ads on color copiers. Love this era and like many of you, am so glad I lived through them, even though I was a young teen without any money and could not buy the products (except I got a gift of a Yardley slicker lipstick once and just cherished it!).
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your memories of this very cool time! If you search my blog, you’ll see that I have many Yardley ads from the late 60s/early 70s. I also have Mary Quant and Love Cosmetics ads. I’ll have to look through my big stack of Seventeen magazines for that Kraft Foods Midsummer Faire ad. I don’t recall it, but it certainly sounds very interesting (and delicious).
~Marilyn
I have thought about these ads for years. Like many of you, I was obsessed with every facet of R&J, so when I saw Olivia’s Yardley ads at 13, I literally got up and walked to the nearest drugstore to buy anything Yardley. In this case, all they stocked was Yardley face powder. It was loose powder and I didn’t know you needed a brush. I didn’t have the first idea what to do with it and never used it, but to me it represented Olivia and that was thrilling enough. Yes, I was Yardley’s demographic sucker and delighted to be so!
2020 here, and still dreaming of vintage Yardley, Olivia, and all the promise those dreams held.