Fashion Flashback: Suki Poitier

30 July 2010

Suki Poitier was an English model who lived at the center of Swinging 60s London. At age 18 she was the girlfriend of Guinness heir Tara Browne and was a passenger in the December 18, 1966, car crash that killed him. The pair was driving through South Kensington at high speed when Browne ran a traffic light in the intersection between Redcliffe Square and Redcliffe Gardens and collided with a parked lorry in order to save Poitier. She was unharmed in the incident that served as the inspiration for the Beatles song “A Day in the Life”. After the accident Suki became close with Rolling Stone Brian Jones and was later devestated by his death as well. She remained friendly with the rest of the band after this and was often seen at music festivals with them. She died in 1981 when she and her husband were involved in another car accident in Portugal. A favorite model of Ossie Clark, Suki’s style embodies the essence of the era in which she rose to fame.

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