dress & jacket

Jean Patou, Paris

Summary

Sleeveless afternoon dress of black twilled cotton printed with vivid pink blossoms, with black cotton cropped jacket and cummerbund. Scooped neckline. Left side seam fastening with zip from armhole to below waist, inner waistband of corded ribbon fastening with hook & eye: calf-length skirt lined throughout with black stiffened muslin. Back cut to give elaborate bustle effect. Separate "puff" of fabric sewn above waistband giving the impression that the skirt sections are twisted and threaded through it. Back sections stiffened with 2 horizontal strips of nylon crinoline sewn to muslin lining. Bustle effect enhanced by tight underskirt of black rayon with pleated rectangle of very stiff horsehair mounted to back. Underskirt closes to waist with zip, skirt fastens at waist with hook & bar; narrow cotton poplin belt attached to skirt drapery CB passes round front waist and fastens CB, covering the ends of stiffened poplin band. Jacket : Black cotton poplin lined with stiff black muslin, cropped to just below bust, plain round neck, fastening with 5 buttons. Elbow-length sleeves. Fitted cummerbund of black poplin opening at L side, formed from 3 deep overlapping pleats stiffly interlined with petersham. The whole backed with stiff black muslin, fastening with 5 hooks and bars. Belt : Black cotton (poplin) cummerbund. Three overlapping stiffened folds, seamed down centre to form slight downwards curve, fastening with five hooks and eyes on left. See also Shoes 1956.429 Cotton Board

Display Label

During the 1950s, a Manchester-based pressure group known as "The Cotton Board" with its associated organisation called the "Colour, Style and Design Centre" were influential in promoting the use of cotton in fashion. Inaugurated to assist cotton manufacturers to utilise the fashion industry, the Board sought to encourage designers and retail outlets to use and stock cotton textiles, particularly for glamorous evening and cocktail wear, an area where silk and rayon had hitherto dominated. Fashion parades were organised, as in the main photograph, where commissioned outfits were shown, designed by a range of well known English and French couturiers. Many of these catwalk outfits were subsequently presented to the Gallery of Costume, together with their press descriptions and publicity photographs showing the original models. It is rather difficult to assess the effectiveness of the Cotton Board's campaigns, which lasted until the early 1960s. Cotton is a versatile fibre, but some of the dresses in the collection are rather bizarre, and clearly impractical - a ballgown in black jumbo corduroy for instance, so heavy that the wearer could hardly stand, let alone dance! Cotton also had to compete with nylon, which was also promoted as a glamorous fabric in the 1950s, although here too, success was limited. The final image below shows a shot of an exhibition of some of the outfits held at the Gallery in the late 1980s and early 1990s.