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We measure some details part from garment. Help our to understand the construction.

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Front view

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M.2002.20.IMAGE.blk bk slashes frt[22] copy

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Back view

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Initial sketch of the dress with measurements  

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Initial sketch of the dress with measurements  

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I've edited the technical drawing after the 2nd dress viewing. I've played around with a couple of alternative sleeve positions. Let me know what you think is best and if anything else needs adding or changing.

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simple briefing of garment analysis - can the MA pattern cutting confirm if this is reliable source?

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Here's our initial garment analysis we developed on Wednesday

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I've been working on this technical drawing as a development of the sketch. It's interesting how much I am learning about the dress as I develop it. I have lots of questions for the next time we visit the dress.

* Added measurements are on page 2 of this document.

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I've noticed lots of mistakes on this still. Such as where the sleeve meets the garment. I will keep developing and we clarify on our next visit.
I also missed the visible facing panel along the back neckline. The cut-outs will need to move down.

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http://mysewingfactory.blogspot.com/2014/01/vionnet.html

Inspiration for how we display our pattern lay

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McCall Printed Pattern from LCF pattern archive

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McCall Printed Pattern from LCF pattern archive

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McCall Printed Pattern from the LCF pattern archive

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McCall Printed Pattern from the LCF pattern archive

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ENDED (in 2018) The London Nights Exhibition - but worth looking up curator Beatrice Behlen

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ENDED (in 2018) The London Nights Exhibition - but worth looking up curator Beatrice Behlen

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https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/dressing-night

- HIGHLIGHTS HARRODS AND LIBERTY DEPARTMENT STORES SHOWCASING EVENING GOWNS THAT INSPIRED WOMEN IN THE 1930S : potential room here to further explore

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Skip to main content

Fashion curator Beatrice Behlen explores the beautiful and striking eveningwear of the 1930s, as seen through fashion photography.

Beatrice Behlen

Senior Curator,Fashion and Decorative Arts

24 September 2018

The London Nights exhibition closed on 11 November 2018.

As a fashion curator, my favourite part of the London Nights exhibition was - unsurprisingly - the display of photos from the interwar period, showing models in evening wear. The images formed part of what we call the ' Bassano Archive', more than 3,000 glass plate photographic negatives produced at the Bassano Studio between around 1912 and 1945. I love that photography curator Anna Sparham decided to display the actual glass plate negatives, rather than modern positive prints. But I am also intrigued by what the images show.

The main work of the Bassano Studio was portrait photography - that part of the archive is now kept at the National Portrait Gallery - but it also produced images for advertisements and editorials, featuring the creations of ready-to-wear manufacturers, tailors, milliners, hairdressers and other trades relating to beautifying and dressing the body.

Alexander Bassano (1829-1913) had originally set up his studio in Regent Street in 1850. By the time he retired in 1903, the studio had moved to 25 Old Bond Street, via Piccadilly and Pall Mall. It was refurbished and re-opened under the name Bassano Limited and perhaps it was the founder's death in 1913 that allowed his successors to venture into advertising (or maybe no earlier examples of this kind of work have survived). In 1921 the studio moved again, to Dover Street, where it remained until 1974 and where the majority of the photos on display in London Nights were taken.

For most Bassano images we have a precise date and know the company who created the featured products. We also often have the name of the publication the photo was destined for, such as society weekly The Bystander or The Graphic, a rival of the Illustrated London News. Many of the examples in London Nights were made for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, a magazine I did not know.

As the title suggests, it contains what seems to me an odd mixture of sport reportage and theatrical news. Similar to many of the magazines of this period, its first few pages are filled with advertisements, in this case for riding breeches, weatherproofs, sport and walking shoes, hunting shirts, whips and even saddles, providing an idea of the target audience.

There cannot have been many sporting activities that were not covered by the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. I found features on hunting, sailing, skating, fencing, boxing, golf, tennis, rugby, cricket, archery and angling, as well as horse and automobile races, motoring and cars in general. The stage was represented by one or more pages filled with photos of scantily-dressed theatre or film actresses, usually in swimming suits or shorts.

While some of this might sound more aimed at men, the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News also included a regular section called 'Modes of the Moment' with photographs of women's fashions by Bassano and text by a certain Lorna Cameron. Almost all the images discussed here can be found in the exhibition.

On 29 June 1933, a model was photographed leaning somewhat awkwardly on what looks like blocks made of concrete but are more likely of painted wood. She wears a light-coloured, pleated evening gown underneath a fur-trimmed, patterned coat from Liberty department store.

The photo appeared three weeks later, in the 22 July issue, when the reader was told that the young woman's outfit was 'destined for an informal dinner and for the cocktail hour' after the races. The dress or 'slip' was of 'orchid mauve satin' while the negligee, or coat was made of gold and black brocade with leaves in pastel shades.

Blocks and pieces of floor covering are geometrically arranged below and behind a model in a clinging, bias-cut gown shot on 4 September 1933. Her dark evening coat with its dramatic sleeves could be obtained from the high-end department store Fenwicks. When the photo eventually appeared in the magazine, on 23 September 1933, it was cropped quite closely, so the make-shift nature of the props was no longer apparent.

According to the caption, the coat is made 'of an exquisite shade of pansy-blue Ottoman', a ribbed fabric which would have helped holding the shape of the sleeves. The coat would have set you back 6 ½ guineas, a lot considering that earlier in the year a family advertised for an experienced governess with 'fluent French, Latin, music' who was expected to look after three children for 3 guineas a week (The Times, Classified Advertising, 10 January 1933).

A photograph of a platinum-blonde in lounging pyjamas taken on 29 September 1934 again reveals a background and floor put together from bits and pieces. It appeared in Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News on 12 October with others showing merchandise from the department store Swan & Edgar on Piccadilly Circus. The three-piece, highwayman coat, trousers and waistcoat, is made of 'chiffon velvet', apparently a lightweight, soft velvet on a chiffon base, that is declared to be 'the last word in pyjamas for wearing after the sun has set'. Sadly, the colour of the ensemble is not mentioned.

My favourite page was included in the issue of 2 November 1934. The beautiful (and beautifully made-up) model is shown in no less than six garments available from Harrods. I am not surprised which image the editor has chosen to feature more prominently, it is the most dramatic and the face draws you onto the page. The pleated cape of 'pale forget-me-not blue' velvet, decorated with a prominent bow 'of a deep mahogany tint' was also available in other colours and 'maybe be rolled up like a piece of music'. A second photo, also shown in the exhibition, has the model in a crossover blouse of sparkling 'gold and silver chiffon lamé', the sleeves of which, so Lorna advises, 'must be carefully studied'.

I wish I could spend more time looking for Bassanos in magazines and study the difference between the original photo and what ends up on the page. I expected more information about colours but I presume Lorna (who I am now convinced was actually a man) might never have seen any of the garments and only had the photos and information provided by the store. The pages seem to be what we would now call advertorials, advertisements disguised as editorial content. I wonder how this worked in practice - who selected the garments, who chose the models, who decided how they were shot? Their story is sadly missing. I would love to know who they were.

Love fashion? Subscribe to our fashion newsletter to read more stories from our collections, and find out about upcoming events and exhibitions.

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Fashionable eveningwear of the 1930s | Museum of London

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Skip to main content Fashion curator Beatrice Behlen explores the beautiful and striking eveningwear of the 1930s, as seen through fashion photography. Beatrice Behlen Senior Curator,Fashion and Decorative Arts 24 September 2018 The London Nights exhibition closed on 11 November 2018.

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ENDED 2019 - Exhibition 'Night and Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs' in Fashion and Textile Museum

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ENDED 2019 - Exhibition 'Night and Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs' in Fashion and Textile Museum

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https://whichmuseum.co.uk/exhibition/night-and-day-1930s-fashion-and-photographs-fashion-and-textile-museum-12071

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Night and Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs - Exhibition at Fashion and Textile Museum - WhichMuseum

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Following the success of 2017's 1920s Jazz Age: Fashion and Photographs, we are thoroughly excited to announce our Winter 2018 exhibition: Night and Day: 193...

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This article reviews how the Bias Cut had a purpose of enhancing slim figures

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This article reviews how the Bias Cut had a purpose of enhancing slim figures

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https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/mermaid-slinkiness-1930s-london-womens-fashion

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Skip to main content

In this edition of our fashion series, we delve into female fashions of the 1930s with the help of a former Vogue fashion editor to explore what made the new decade's silhouette so different and appealing.

Beatrice Behlen

Senior Curator, Fashion and Decorative Arts

4 July 2022

Major changes in fashion rarely occur in line with the calendar but the 1930s might be an exception. Maybe the style switch was accelerated by the stock market crash of October 1929 - although relationships between world events and fashion are usually not as straightforward as they are sometimes presented. (Don't get us started on the supposed link between hemlines and the economy!)

In her book about The Indecisive Decade (1968), Madge Garland, British Vogue 's fashion editor from 1932 to 1940, described the rather sudden replacement of one beauty ideal with another:

Few decades lend themselves to a sharper division than do the Twenties and Thirties: the image of a short-skirted, short-haired boyish girl with no breasts and no waist but exposed legs was replaced by a taller, more elongated figure in which the torso was of paramount importance but the legs of little account.

Illustrations from a 1930 catalogue printed for Hitchcock, Williams & Co. of St Paul's Churchyard advertising new frocks for spring and summer also demonstrate this ambiguity or, as Garland has it, "indecisiveness". While some of the 1920s trademarks were still present - waists were relatively low though hemlines were still quite high - the dresses also included features that were to dominate the new decade.

While the 1920s had been about vertical and horizontal lines, the 1930s were all about diagonals. Here in the catalogue, only visible in the jaunty angle at which one of the cloche hats is worn, asymmetry was also going to play a big part. Dressmakers and frock designers could not leave anything alone: if textiles were not patterned - stripes and checks being particular favourites - they were fan-pleated or tucked, ruched or tied into bows.

The basic elements of the female wardrobe, however, did not change. It continued to consist of dresses or suits worn with blouses or tight jumpers. Some previously abandoned garments experienced a revival, such as capes and their smaller cousins, capelets.

They had not worked with the straight silhouette of the Twenties, but were now either used as separate garments or incorporated into jackets and coats.

Hats continued to be worn, either small at gravity-defying angles or wide-brimmed in summer. Fur remained popular for trimmings or fashioned into accessories. Gloves often had large gauntlets and bags were usually but not always clutched.

Three suits, in our collection and once owned by Lady Fox, provide a good example of high-end 1930s daywear. Born in 1906, Myra Alice Newton married Sir Gifford Wheaton Grey Fox, son of a wealthy sugar merchant in 1927. He was elected MP for Henley in Oxfordshire in 1932 and the couple divided their time between Fox's constituency and the capital.

Lady Fox's interwar wardrobe, much of which was auctioned in 1982, included both French and British couture garments as well unlabelled clothes, probably sewn by a dressmaker. In the 1930s, Paris was still at the top of the fashion pyramid, but London couturiers were not far behind and particularly excelled at providing suits for city and country wear.

"Godets fell from bias-cut hip-lines, flares and frills rippled diagonally down to the ground. The cut-on-the-cross sections of the dress sometimes ensured so perfect a mermaid slinkiness that no opening was required. An evening gown was just slipped over the head and its clever bias-cut followed the line of the body."

Worrying about smooth silhouettes would soon become a thing of the past. On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, marking the beginning of the Second World War. Let us turn to Madge Garland one more time:

"The pretty girl of the early Thirties with her slender body exposed by clinging silk, with long skirts fluttering round her ankles and curls on her forehead and ears, a coquettishly tip-tilted hat on her hat, would be replaced by a hermaphroditic figure in slacks, mannish jacket and hair tied up in a scarf. It is true, there was a new style of hat, but it was of tin."

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'Mermaid slinkiness' in 1930s' London fashion | Museum of London

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Skip to main content In this edition of our fashion series, we delve into female fashions of the 1930s with the help of a former Vogue fashion editor to explore what made the new decade's silhouette so different and appealing.

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Gerald Leslie Brockhurst Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll

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Gerald Leslie Brockhurst Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll

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Interesting painting - explores the way dress was a large expression of identity not only in 1930s but also today.

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This smaller than life-size portrait by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst depicts the socialite Margaret Sweeney, Duchess of Argyll (1912-1993) against a background comprising a dark sky and a landscape of mountains and lakes. Margaret is presented frontally, with her face, shoulders and torso in view. She wears a dark dress, the golden, floral embroidery of which Brockhurst has rendered in hyper-realistic detail using small brushstrokes. Her pale, porcelain-like skin contrasts with the subdued tones of the rest of the picture, especially her dark eyes and eyebrows, which punctuate the whiteness of her face. Margaret was known to be intensely proud of her Scottish heritage, and this is reflected in the painting's scenery, which evokes the lochs and mountains of Scotland.

Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll was painted in London in c.1931. Margaret was around nineteen years of age when the portrait was made, and at this time her life was filled with major public and private events: she was presented at court in 1930 and named debutante of the year, had affairs with several rich and powerful men and met her fiancé-to-be, the seventh Earl of Warwick (although they never married). At this time Brockhurst himself was rising to fame, specifically for his portraits of glamorous and beautiful women. The majority of these portraits were composed in half-length format - revealing the head, shoulders and torso of the sitter - as is seen in Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, and in one of Brockhurst's best known works from the same period, Jeunesse Dorée 1934 (National Museums Liverpool), which depicts Brockhurst's model and second wife Kathleen Woodward.

Both Jeunesse Dorée and Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1934. Jeunesse Dorée received the greatest critical attention of the two, and its warm reception was partly responsible for Brockhurst's continuing success in the 1930s. He became increasingly prolific during this time and was, as the art historian Romita Ray has argued, 'Britain's most sought-after portraitist' of the first half of the twentieth century (Ray 2006, p.14). At the height of his fame, Brockhurst's clients and supporters included rich and powerful British and American socialites such as Marlene Dietrich, J. Paul Getty and members of the Astor and Vanderbilt families. Brockhurst was also a skilled etcher, and his works in that medium received high praise when he settled in the USA in 1939 (eventually becoming an American citizen in 1949). Alongside his paintings, Brockhurst completed many portrait etchings during the 1930s of a very similar configuration to Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll.

Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll has been interpreted by scholars such as Ray as both a realistic rendering of the sitter and an idealised representation of her beauty and taste (Ray 2006, p.14). Margaret's fashionable clothing, her attractive features and the painting's dramatic backdrop reflect the ways in which she constructed her public identity, while the formality of her pose and the hyper-realistic detail with which Brockhurst rendered Margaret's face and clothing point to the reality that lies behind her self-presentation. The portrait is notable for its similarity in composition and palette to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa c.1503-6 (Musée du Louvre, Paris). Leonardo's work became a source of influence for Brockhurst following a trip he made to Paris and Italy in 1913, and there is a clear visual link between this portrait and the Mona Lisa in their half-length format, background landscapes with a low horizon, and their sitters' inscrutable smiles.

Further reading
Mark M. Johnson, 'Gerald Leslie Brockhurst: Etchings from the William P. Brumfield Memorial Collection', Arts & Activities, November 2002, pp.33-6.
Ian Chilvers, 'Brockhurst, Gerard Leslie' in Ian Chilvers (eds.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, 3rd edn, Oxford 2004, p.106.
Romita Ray, The Eternal Masquerade: Prints and Paintings by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (1890- 1978) from the Jacob Burns Foundation, exhibition catalogue, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia 2006.

Louise Hughes
March 2014

Supported by Christie's.
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

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'Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll', Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, c.1931 | Tate

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Artwork page for 'Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll', Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, c.1931 on display at Tate Britain. In the 1930s Brockhurst became a sought after portrait painter. Paintings such as this represented a fashionable assimilation of past with present, a modern expression of traditional artistic values.

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https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15567/evening-dress-james-charles/ James Charles inspired by Surrealists such as Salvador Dali.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1223949/the-parachute-collection-evening-dress-schiaparelli-elsa/ Likewise Schiaparelli was also inspired by Dali but in this dress, Schiaparelli was inspired by Leonardo's parachute sketches.

So that leaves us to wonder, what was our focus dress inspired by...? I believe there are somewhat gothic elements to it and during the 1930s gothic type films and novels were written and produced such as Jekyll and Hyde and Frankenstein!

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Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections

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Evening Dress | James, Charles | V&A Explore The Collections

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Evening dress of satin, designed by Charles James, London, 1934.

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Could potentially ask to access these archives and see any from 1930s?

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- Modes of the Movement: L. Cameron
- The Dress Detective A Practical Guide to Object-Based Research: I. Mida and A. Kim
- Making Vintage 1930s Clothes for Women: C. Phipps and C. Reed
- Bias Cut Blueprints A Geometric Method for Clothing Design and Construction: J. Bramson and S. Lenahan
- Bias - cut Dressmaking A Step-By-Step Introduction: G.Holman
- Vionnet: J. Clark Costume
- Madeleine Vionnet: B. Kirke and I.Miyake
Patterns of Fashion 2 Englishwomen's dresses and their construction c. 1860-1940 - J. Arnold
- Historical School of Dress Society: Jenny Termini
- https://www.jstor.org

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From the Styled Bodies exhibition catalogue

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From the Styled Bodies exhibition catalogue

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Getting things started by posting a couple of garments from the Styled Bodies exhibition catalogue. Here's a beautiful example of a 1930s dress cut on the bias. I love the way the skirt hangs and the neckline drapes :)

https://www.chertseymuseum.org/StyledBodies

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1943 bias-cut evening dress - Designer: Charles James 

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Here's the Charles James evening dress from the V&A online catalogue we were recommended to look at. It's currently on display, so worth a visit :)

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15567/evening-dress-james-charles/

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Welcome to our Fashion Gallery, where we create annually changing exhibitions on various themes. This exhibition is all about the fashions of the 1930s.

To set the scene - From a historical point of view, the 1930s was a momentous decade. It was bookended by two major events: the "Great Depression", and the Second World War. Both had far-reaching consequences. The Great Depression, the result of the 1929 stock market crash in the USA, led to widespread unemployment. War with Germany, declared in 1939, became a looming threat over the latter years of the 1930s as politics became increasingly polarised across Europe.

That said, not all day-to-day lives were directly affected by the Great Depression or the march towards war, and experiences differed across areas, social groups, and age brackets. It's true that many working people in the north of Britain suffered severe unemployment and poverty during the 1930s. Other parts of the country were less affected, with boosts to local economies due to manufacturing in the Midlands and the service sector in the Southeast. Those who were lucky enough to be earning had considerable spending power. The 1930s actually saw social mobility and growth in the proportion of those on middle incomes. A housing boom occurred during the 1930s, making it possible for some to buy their first home away from polluted, overcrowded cities. Along with a little disposable income and timesaving gadgets in the home, came greater emphasis on leisure pursuits of all kinds, including sporting, social and cultural activities. The newly introduced two weeks' annual paid holiday also boosted the UK tourist industry. Women's lives were changing too. They finally had the vote on the same terms as men from 1928, and there were more opportunities in the workplace. This was particularly true for young, single women who experienced a new sense of freedom and spending power.

Sophisticated marketing and communication techniques altered people's perceptions of the world around them and their place in it. The harnessing of new technology particularly in radio, advertising imagery and cinema, fuelled aspirations as never before. However, the highest levels of society in Britain were still a potent social, political and cultural force. Interest in and reverence for the royal family and the aristocracy was much in evidence in some quarters. However, a new and powerful influence was also taking hold, that of Hollywood and the cult of the film star.

All these factors influenced the fashions of the 1930s. As people lived through an era of social mobility, political uncertainty and cultural development, clothing took on new significance. Great care and attention were paid to 'Keeping up Appearances'. For those on lower incomes this became more feasible due to the greater availability of cheaper ready-to-wear garments and home sewing patterns. Those with deep pockets were able to access some of the finest couture clothing ever produced. The resulting fashions, which emphasised body shape and cut ahead of over-complicated decoration, produced a general sense of elegance and glamour in dress, arguably unsurpassed in the modern age.

The gallery is divided into different sections. The first case you come to opposite the entrance features daywear from the '30s. There's an array of pieces from throughout the decade with examples of men's women's and childrenswear and accessories. Different seasons are represented with clothing suitable for summer and winter wear. Note the presence of accessories such as hats and gloves. 'Keeping up Appearances' was an important aspect of dressing during this era, and in order to be presentable, it was necessary to wear a hat and gloves when out in public.

The larger case to the right of the gallery features examples of 1930s eveningwear. The pieces to the left are for semi-formal occasions, then from the centre of the case and to the right you see examples of incredibly glamorous evening or ball gowns. The 1930s was a period when there were many opportunities for 'dressing up'. Attending dances was a regular occurrence for many people and nightclubs were popping up in many cities. Once again, strict rules had to be adhered to. Women's skirts were floor length and bodices were cut low, either at the back or the front - though many had matching bolero jackets to cover up if necessary.

The gallery also includes other elements of interpretation. We have film footage with more about the fashions of the era. The films also show how the people of the 1930s moved in their clothes. The niche area where the films are running also contains a section about home sewing in the 1930s. An original pattern from our reference collection has been used to re-create a 1930s dress. This is on open display in the gallery for you to investigate further. Finally, to the left of the doorway is a wardrobe which contains replicas of 1930s style clothes. Several are inspired by the original garments on display. You are welcome to handle and try these on.

You can listen to more of the tour to find out about individual items as we delve deeper into the history of some of the many pieces on display.

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Styled Bodies: fashion of the 1930s - 2022/23 exhibition guide

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Welcome to our Fashion Gallery, where we create annually changing exhibitions on various themes. This exhibition is all about the fashions of the 1930s. To set the scene - From a historical point of view, the 1930s was a momentous decade. It was bookended by two major events: the "Great Depression", and the Second World War.

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featuring 1930s culture: famous actors and actresses, films, singers, evening wear and novels

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Explore a hand-picked collection of Pins about 1930s dress on Pinterest.

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https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1474222/mod_resource/content/0/Centre%20for%20Sustainable%20Fashion%20Resources.pdf

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Female empowerment - not just through dress, but pose. - Inspiration for photographs in the dress perhaps?

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Female empowerment - not just through dress, but pose. - Inspiration for photographs in the dress perhaps?

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https://catalogue.henry-moore.org/exhibitions/19/1930-london-new-burlington-galleries-first-exhibition-of-t Henry Moore was a 1930s sculptor who portrayed a lot of females.

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17 March 1930 - 07 April 1930

Description

Remarks Public

This large group show was the first exhibition of the Young Painters' Society at the New Burlington Galleries, London, held between 17th March and 7th April 1930. Moore's Reclining Woman 1928 (cat. 346), Hornton stone (now at Leeds Art Gallery) was a highlight, on sale in the show for £200 (around £11,600 today). The sculpture was pictured and commented upon in a number of prominent press articles, which also praised the works of Moore's counterparts, Barbara Hepworth and John Skeaping. Moore also showed a second work, Reclining Figure (cat. 323) that has not been identified. Other notable artists in the show included Augustus John, Vanessa Bell, Eric Gill, Jacob Epstein, John Piper, Robert Medley, Christopher Wood, Walter Sickert and James Boswell, as well as Moore's close friends, Raymond Coxon, Edna Ginesi and Evelyn Kendall.

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1930 London, New Burlington Galleries, First Exhibition of the Young Painters' Society

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17 March 1930 - 07 April 1930 Description Remarks Public This large group show was the first exhibition of the Young Painters' Society at the New Burlington Galleries, London, held between 17th March and 7th April 1930. Moore's Reclining Woman 1928 (cat.

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Sketching as part of the development process

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Sketching as part of the development process

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See the fashion illustrations of the bias cut - I am happy to recreate for our own!

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In fashion, the end of the 1920s and above all the 1930s are regarded as years of body-hugging, unashamedly seductive silhouettes.

These are the years of femme fatales, in which divas such as Jean Harlow and Bette Davis become models of strong and fascinating femininity. Their fame also came from the kind of dresses they were immortalised in, either on and off the screen.

The curvaceous silhouettes they became known for came from a technical intuition: instead of being cut following the straight line of the weave, the flowing fabrics of their dresses were literally 'cut on the grain', with the pattern positioned at a 45° angle on the woven fabric, exploiting its elasticity.

This technique became known as 'bias cut'. It allowed the creation of dresses that could be draped - recalling the iconic peplums worn by goddesses in classical depictions - and sewn as to cling to the natural curves of women's bodies, without constricting it or using under-structures to redesign it.

Explore more women's history on Europeana

The designer most associated with the bias cut - considered a sort of architectural approach to dress - is Madeleine Vionnet.

The daughter of an officer from the Jura region of France, always on the move, Madeleine Vionnet was abandoned by her mother when she was still a child. After some wanderings with her father, she settled in Aubervilliers, near Paris, she left school at the age of ten and started working for a maison de couture where the wife of a friend of her father worked. After marrying at eighteen, she moved to England, where she worked for Kate Reilly, a dressmaker to the English court. Then she moved back to Paris, where she came into contact with Madame Gerber, one of the three sisters of the maison Callot Soeurs, and actually began her career in the Parisian Haute Couture system.

Explore more: Callot Soeurs, a female fashion family affair

In 1912, Madeleine Vionnet established her own Maison in Paris. The clothing she made attracted the attention of many for their apparently simple and natural design. The way she used fabrics caused dresses to cling to the body and gently fall caressing the feminine curves.

Some say she invented the bias-cut, applying a technique previously used for cutting collars to the construction of the whole dress.

Explore a gallery of Madeleine Vionnet designs

Vionnet also started a campaign for the protection of couture designs, to prevent copyists from plagiarising her work.

In her quest against plagiarism, Madeleine Vionnet had previously founded the Association for the Defence of Fine and Applied Arts in 1921. However, she eventually started to document her creations by photographing them from the front, back and sides and then decided to stamp on each label her irreproducible and unique fingerprint.

As well as protecting her creativity, marking the clothes in this way put her own identity as a guarantee of their authenticity: an awareness that seemed to stem from the apparently simple but highly-skilled cut of her creations.

Explore more fashion on Europeana

The feature image above is a collage of three photographs:

Robe, Madeleine Vionnet, Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, In copyright

Robe du soir, Madeleine Vionnet, Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, In copyright

Robe, Madeleine Vionnet, Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, In copyright

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In fashion, the end of the 1920s and above all the 1930s are regarded as years of body-hugging, unashamedly seductive silhouettes. These are the years of femme fatales, in which divas such as Jean Harlow and Bette Davis become models of strong and fascinating femininity.

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A work in process video I made in 2020...

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A work in process video I made in 2020...

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https://youtu.be/HYdj9lqUPHU

This is a video I directed in early 2020 of students' work in progress.

I was thinking we could do something similar (but better) for the Chertsey project, highlighting the process of garment analysis, pattern cutting, sampling and final construction from beginning to end. Might be an interesting perspective for the viewer to see. Let me know what you think...

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BATP Costume Construction 2020 - Work in progress

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Please share any further media here or anything else you like to share as a reference

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Styled Bodies at Chertsey Museum Project Brief

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Hi all!
Tasks to do:
- fill in work experience placement form sent by tiff, send completed form to grace.evans@runnymede.gov.uk before our first session at Chertsey.
- Meet in your team to introduce yourselves (TUES 11th OCT 7:30pm TEAMS LINK HAS BEEN SENT BY LAURA).
- View this virtual tour of the Styled Bodies exhibition: Chertsey Museum and browse the exhibition catalogue: www.chertseymuseum.org/StyledBodies
- Conduct preliminary research into 1930s eveningwear, bias cut and the process of garment analysis, to understand the concepts.
- Refer to the recommended reading and useful links at the end of this document attached.
- Browse museum digital collections: 2 relevant examples currently on display in the V&A Fashion Collection are a gold satin dress by Charles James and a white organdie dress by Elsa Schiaparelli. Links to the details of these examples are included in the list below in the attached document!

Excited to get working with you all! Please feel free to use this padlet for reminders, discussion and group ideas.

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Styled Bodies Collaborative project 2022 - student schedule

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Group Planner - To record minutes after each meeting

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Group Planner - To record minutes after each meeting

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https://app.mural.co/t/collaborativechallengestyled6396/m/collaborativechallengestyled6396/1665430760738/8b8c06059893571a59a493bd709b7edf553f67aa?sender=ud97f55cd19c62c5ae8ba2482

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please familiarise yourself with our learning objectives and what is required for this module as a group but also independently :)

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22 23 Collaborative Challenge - Assessment Brief

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SCHEME OF WORK FOR COLLABORATIVE CHALLENGE

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SCHEME OF WORK FOR COLLABORATIVE CHALLENGE

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Housekeeping Rules for Chertsey Museum London College of Fashion Student visit

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updated group planner after meeting 11/11/22

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updated group planner after meeting 11/11/22

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Our signed teamwork agreement has been sent to cu@fashion.arts.ac.uk as required

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Here's the list we made of our individual professional experience. It should help us next week to delegate roles and tasks between the team :)