Molly Parkin: Fashion Icon and Pioneering Artist Passes Away at 93

A Colourful Life Comes to an End

Molly Parkin died on 5 January 2026, at the age of 93. The Welsh painter, novelist and journalist became most well-known for her work on Nova magazine, newspapers and television in the 1960s. Her daughter Sophie Parkin confirmed her death, saying that an “extraordinary human has left the building.”

From Welsh Valleys to Swinging London

Parkin was born on 3 February 1932, the second of two daughters, in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan, Wales. Despite a challenging childhood marked by family struggles, at 17, she earned a scholarship to Goldsmiths College of Art, marking the beginning of a promising career. Her abstract works with Celtic overtones were noticed and collected by Tate.

Defining the Fashion Revolution

As fashion editor of Nova, then Harpers & Queen, and later The Sunday Times, she helped invent the look and tone of the Sixties: clever, erotic, graphic, and gleefully unmanageable. She gained acclaim as the fashion editor for the Sunday Times, earning an award in 1971. Her bold vision and unconventional approach transformed fashion journalism, working alongside icons like Mary Quant and Barbara Hulanicki at Biba.

A Multifaceted Creative Legacy

She authored several novels that blended autobiography with fiction. Her literary contributions included ten novels in the “comic erotica” genre and two memoirs. After battling alcoholism, at 55, Parkin gave up alcohol and cigarettes—lifelong addictions—and stayed sober for the next 35 years. With sobriety, painting returned. From a Chelsea council flat studio—famously described as being “inside a melted rainbow”—Parkin painted almost daily.

An Enduring Cultural Impact

In May 2012, she was awarded a Civil List Pension by the Queen for her services to the arts. Last summer at the age of 92, she exhibited at the Rogue Gallery in St Leonards on Sea alongside her daughter, Sophie, and her granddaughter, Carson Parkin-Fairley. Molly Parkin’s fearless creativity, distinctive style, and uncompromising authenticity left an indelible mark on British culture, inspiring generations of artists, writers and fashion innovators.