A new book, The Package Holiday 1968 - 1985, published by Hoxton Mini Press (available from Amazon), taps into 1970s Brits’ love of sun, sea and teensy weensy Speedos.
In 1960s Britain, jetting ‘abroad’ was a pursuit associated with sophisticated socialites like Aristotle and Jacqueline Onassis, characters such as James Bond and working-class superstars the Beatles. It was only the late 1950s that British European Airways set up its ‘package holiday’ deals to Spain, incorporating short flights, hotel, all-day board, and lashings of family-friendly fun, with Valencia being the first destination. The deals were a hit, and the White Coast region got a canny rebrand as ‘Costa Blanca’ soon after.
Package Holiday: a very British love affair in pictures
Sunny delight: It was only in 1958 that British European Airways had set up ‘package holiday’ deals to Spain
By the 1970s, many Britons, accustomed to their nation’s short or often rain-drenched summers, were thirsty for a taste of the White Coast and its exotic promise of tans, al fresco dining, and bourgeois sports such as table tennis. The chance to slip into something more comfortable by way of Speedos, bikinis and super-short shorts was an added, and most obviously welcome, extra.
The White Coast offered an exotic promise of tans, al fresco dining, and bourgeois sports
None of this new-found Technicolor fun was lost on the London Royal Air Force-trained photographer Trevor Clark, an Eastender who, having set up a studio in Soho, had become the go-to photographer in 1960s Swinging London, documenting the exploits of bands such as the Beatles and The Rolling Stones while he was at it.
Trevor Clark's images capture the ambitions of a generation eager to escape life in a rapidly de-industrialising Britain
Clark fancied a few rays himself and spotted a gap in the market photographing the wave of newly established resorts in the Balearics, and Mallorca in particular. His images, now collected in a book by his son Jake Clark, not only captured the glamour of the location – those saturated colours would have seemed like a window into another universe on the brochure stands of high-street travel agents back in Blighty – but reflected the ambitions of a generation eager to escape the social and economic restraints of life in a rapidly de-industrialising Britain. Two weeks in Magaluf were, then, an exercise in aspiration acted out in the new style of nylon leisure suits and, a dream that was accessible in the way that Carnaby Street’s delights of the previous decade simply weren’t.
The Package Holiday 1968 - 1985, by Jake Clark with photography by Trevor Clark, at hoxtonminipress.com, also available at Amazon
-
Viviane Sassen considers fine art, fashion photography and fragility in ItalyViviane Sassen’s exhibition, 'This Body Made of Stardus' at Collezione Maramotti, spans two decades off Sassen's career
-
Ghanaian cuisine has a story to tell at Washington, DC restaurant ElminaThe new restaurant is chef Eric Adjepong’s colourful ode to the recipes he grew up loving
-
Pedro y Juana's take on architecture: 'We want to level the playing field’Mexico City-based architects Padro y Juana bring their transdisciplinary, participatory approach to the Mexico pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025; find out more
-
Taschen’s sexy record covers are hitting all the right notesTaschen has been through 50 years of album art for its latest tome, ‘Sexy Record Covers’
-
‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960sA new photography book from The Anonymous Project showcases its subjects when they’re dressed for best, posing for events and celebrations unknown
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Era-defining photographer David Bailey guides us through the 1980s in a new tome not short of shoulder pads and lycraFrom Yves Saint Laurent to Princess Diana, London photographer David Bailey dives into his 1980s archive in a new book by Taschen
-
Inside Joan Didion’s unseen diary of personal relationships and post-therapy notesA newly discovered diary by Joan Didion is soon to be published. Titled 'Notes to John', the journal documents her relationship with her daughter, husband, alcoholism, and depression
-
Carsten Höller’s new Book of Games: 336 playful pastimes for the bold and the boredArtist Carsten Höller invites readers to step out of their comfort zone with a series of subversive games
-
Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TVStefano De Luigi's monograph Televisiva examines how Berlusconi’s empire reshaped Italian TV, and subsequently infiltrated the premiership
-
How a sprawling new book honours the legacy of cult photographer Larry Fink‘Larry Fink: Hands On / A Passionate Life of Looking’ pays homage to an American master. ‘He had this ability to connect,’ says publisher Daniel Power
