The Fool

The Fool were a Dutch design collective and band who were influential in the psychedelic style of art in British popular music in the late 1960s. The colourful art draws on many fantastical and mystical themes. The name is a reference to The Fool tarot card.
The original members were Dutch artists Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger, who were discovered by photographer Karl Ferris among the hippie community on the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1966. He took photographs of clothes designed by them, and sent them to London where they were published in The Times of London and immediately caused a sensation. Ferris took The Fool back to London, and together they opened a studio, with the Dutch artists producing clothes and art. They created:the colourful clothes worn by The Hollies on the cover of their 1967 album Evolution; stage costumes and the front cover design for the self-titled 1967 debut LP by The Move; costumes for Procol Harum; the striking cover of the Incredible String Band's classic 1967 LP The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion; stage costumes and decoration to instruments used by Cream. However, The Fool's best known artworks are undoubtedly those they created for The Beatles in 1966-67. They include: the original (rejected) cover and the inner sleeve for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; the clothes worn in the 1967 television broadcast of "All You Need Is Love"; the huge 3-story mural painted in psychedelic colours on the facade of the Beatles' Apple Boutique in London's Baker Street (which also stocked their creations; months later, the mural was painted over by civic order, due to protests from other local businesses); decoration to George Harrison's Mini car and his bungalow Kinfauns in Surrey (including a lavish fireplace mural), as well as several of Harrison's guitars;
the set design for Joe Massot's 1968 movie Wonderwall, with a score by George Harrison (The Fool also appeared in the film's party scene).
Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger

The Beatle Wives (except Jenny Boyd in the middle) wear clothes by the Fool, for the Apple Boutique

Jenny and Pattie Boyd
Eric Clapton's painted guitar

John Lennon's "Fool Inspired" painted Rolls

Jane Birkin in Wonderwall

Set designers

Mural for the Apple Boutique


Magical Mystery Tour

Our World

Cream

George and Pattie Harrison's fireplace

George's mini

(images from Hippie, Boutique:a 60's cultural phenomenon, and by Henry Diltz)