Inside the WWD Archives: Fashion Friends, Foes and Style

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From curious unions to genuine romances, the dance of social engagement has always been about presence and perception — especially from the onlookers’ wandering eye. Over decades, Women’s Wear Daily has captured many of these encounters, sometimes being the first to do so. Many became familiar faces in fashion‘s timeline. During the 1970s and 1980s, few of the famous went out alone. WWD has witnessed and watched many of these iconic partnerships through the years — whether out on the town, at home, by invitation or otherwise. Many continue to have influence, and with today’s couples and partnerships creating the blueprint for the decades ahead, there will be plenty of style chemistry to watch.

To understand a bit of the obsession, below is an article, “Rocky Royalty,” that ran in WWD on June 15, 1973, where the daily’s editors did a rundown on newly minted and entertainment star couples — Sonny and Cher, Bianca and Mick, Yoko and John and James and Carly — and their vital statistics. What they meant to fashion then is similar to what Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, Justin and Hailey, Taylor and Travis and Zendaya and Tom mean to fashion’s wandering eye today

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Eye View: Rocky Royalty

Like the real world, the music business has its stars, some more super than others. Here are four young millionaire couples whose distinct love stories, lifestyles and financial successes have rocketed them to Rock Royalty

Yoko Ono and John Lennon: The Queen Mother and the King in Exile

Vital statistics: Yoko is 40 and upper-class Japanese; John’s 33 and working-class Liverpool

Estimated worth: At least $5 million

Favorite charities: Willowbrook State Mental Hospital; families of Attica inmates, and grants to starving artists and singers

Homes away from home: Greenwich Village basement duplex soon-to-be sublet because John has received his deportation papers, and a currently boarded-up, all-white Ascot manor house

How their time is spent: Searching for Yoko’s missing daughter, Kyoto. Putting out more albums than the public can consume

Fashion image: Yoko’s black-and-white rice-paddy look. John’s radical chic fatigues and granny glasses

Contributions to pop culture: Started the vogue for nude photography with their “Two Virgins”album cover. Marrying John is considered by many to be Yoko’s greatest work of art. John’s — being a Beatle

Mick and Bianca Jagger: Emperor and Empress of Decadence

Vital statistics: Bianca is 26, depending on the publication and her mood. Nicknamed “Iron Knickers,” she comes from Nicaragua. Mick, 29, is the son of a physical ed teacher from Surrey, England

Estimated worth: $1.5 million and climbing

Favorite charities: Nicaraguan earthquake victims. Recently $400,000 for them at a Rolling Stones concert after Bianca’s mother lost her shop in Managua

Playpens: A tax-dodge villa in the south of France, a flat in London’s Chelsea, a rented house in Ireland and a Tudor- manse in Ochos Rios, Jamaica, near Mick’s Kingston recording facilities

Favorite pastimes: Pouting and snorting. She loves to eat frogs’ legs at La Grenouille. He likes talking about his daughter, Jade

Fashion image: The Bobbsey twins of unisex. She wears suits, veiled hats and carries a walking stick. He wears Isadora Duncan scarves and rhinestone headbands

Contributions to pop culture: Mick’s sequin makeup gives a real shot in the arm to the male cosmetic business. Bianca has revived a dying interest in millinery

James Taylor and Carly Simon: Prince and Princess of the Counter-Culture

Vital statistics: Carly is 28 and “Our Crowd” Jewish. James is 24 and landed-gentry WASP

Estimated worth: $5 million. Carly is a Simon and Schuster heiress and a $1 million talent. James, the son of a wealthy North Carolina doctor, has earned close to $4 million

Favorite charities: Mental health and drug abuse. James is currently on methadone and once spent time at McLean’s, the $100-a-day rest home for preppy dropouts

Crash pads: Carly’s New York East Side apartment and the Martha’s Vineyard house James designed. James owns almost one-quarter of the island

Favorite pastimes: Carly composes songs about ex-boyfriends (Warren “You’re So Vain” Beatty). James plays architect, Cape Cod style

Fashion image: Bloomingdale’s rich hippie. She wears thin Indian blouses and long dresses with Chelsea Cobbler boots. He wears Tom Wolfe white suits and suspenders

Contributions to pop culture: He made drugs chic and she made Bianca jealous when she got Mick to sing background on her “No Secrets” album

Cher and Sonny/Bono: Duke and Duchess of Middle America

Vital statistics: Cher is 26 and part Cherokee. Sonny is 37 and Detroit

Combined worth: Close to $3 million

Favorite charities: Hugh Hefner’s backgammon tournaments

Favorite watering spots: Their Holmby Hills Tudor-style mansion. Headlining in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving or Christmas so Cher doesn’t have to cook

Favorite pastimes: Cher needlepoints and redecorates the house once a year. Sonny drives up and down the driveway in one of his Rolls-Royces

Fashion image: TV glamorous. Backless dresses, wigs and Indian jewelry are Cher’s trademark. Sonny is the Johnny Carson of rock with his sequined jumpsuits, droopy mustache and shoe salesman three-piece suits

Contribution to pop culture: America’s swinging sweethearts

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