suit & blouse

Digby Morton 1906 - 1983

Summary

Fitted jacket and pencil skirt in silver grey cotton/viscose mix tweed, with jacket lining and blouse of cotton printed in red/yellow/dark green in imitation of Indonesian batik (Ghana novelty print). Tweed fabric woven from black cotton warp and shiny white viscose rayon weft, the overall appearance being a shiny silver grey: JACKET: wide round neck, turn-down collar of printed cotton edged with border cut from design; fronts cut each in 2 sections with curved seam from centre of armhole across bust and down to waist; centre opening fastening 5 large grey pearl buttons and bound buttonholes; shallow pocket with horizontal welt at R waist; back cut in 4 sections, CB seam, 2 shaped side seams curving from armhole to waist, CB hem slightly lower, with metal weight sewn in hem; long sleeves in 2 shaped sections, dart on each shoulder; jacket lined throughout with printed cotton: SKIRT: straight to mid-calf; front in one shaped section, fullness at waist in 2 pleats each side centre and small box pleat each side, back in 2 shaped sections with CB seam and opening with black zip, small dart at waist each side; stiffened waistband fastening CB with 3 hooks and eyes; lined pale grey silk: BLOUSE: sleeveless; low square neck bound with printed strip cut from fabric; front in 2 shaped sections with CF opening, fastening 3 grey pearl buttons and worked buttonholes, hook and bar at waist, press stud at neck; long and short vertical darts from hip to bust each side; back in one section, shaped by long vertical dart each side centre, small bound slit at CB hem, side seams open below waist; armholes bound. Shown at fashion parade ("Britain's Couture Cottons for 1958" held at the Hyde Park Hotel, London, 25 June 1957). Digby Morton closed his couture establishment in 1958, a year after this outfit had been created for the Cotton Board event. See photo in "Haute Couture Cottons" in the Ambassador, vol.20, no.7, 1957, p.89. Cotton Board