dress & coat

John Cavanagh 1914

Summary

Matching coat and dress ensemble: white cotton pique duster-style coat printed with a brown fern pattern with full pleated back and deep collar; sleeveless full-skirted dress in tan superfine cotton poplin. DRESS: top edge of sleeveless bodice shaped in deep V at back, rising in front and shaped for armholes, narrow shoulder straps; front in 4 shaped sections; v-shaped dart at CF bust; back in one section each side of CB opening, dart each side; CB opening with zip extending to below waist; bodice fitting to and extending a little below natural waistline, shaped belt at sides and back following low waistline, fastening at L, ends concealed under front fullness of skirt, trimmed self bow: skirt front in 2 sections, tapering slightly towards hem, back in 2 widths; skirt gathered to waist; flared underskirt of net in 4 layers; inner corded rayon underskirt in 5 flared sections, fastening at natural waist with hook & eye. COAT: lined throughout with same tan poplin as dress; high round neck, fastening with hook & loop, with broad turn-down collar; padded shoulders; fronts each in one flared section, pleated to shoulder, and one flared side front section; back in 2 flared sections, pleated to shoulder and to CB neck, and one side back section each side; wide elbow-length sleeves in 2 sections, cut raglan style. 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.