Tag Archives: horrockses

An interesting Horrockses dress: round 2

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It’s incredibly rare that I ever admit I am wrong, but today I concede to the fact I am.
As any regular readers of my blog will know I am pretty obsessed with the brand Horrockses. In 2011 I did some pretty in-depth research into the delightful dress below which had once been owned by Lucienne Day. I had always suspected with its complicated construction that this dress had been designed by John Tullis. On Wednesday I found concrete proof that I had infact got the designer of the dress incorrect : o!!!
 
Hampshire museums service
Dress accession no: C1999.146.2
Photo © Liz Tregenza
If you are interested in the full story behind the dress (ignoring the part about John Tullis!) youcan read it here.
So how did I find out I was wrong? I was visiting the AAD at Blythe House, and decided to have a look through some of the sketchbooks that had belonged to Betty Newmarch who was one of Horrockses fashion designers (along with Marta Pirn anD John Tullis). These three sketchbooks were filled with a veritable wealth of information and have allowed me to date a number of dresses I own more accurately. In the book dated Summer 1956-57 I came across this sketch.
     
IT’S THE ORIGINAL SKETCH AND FABRIC SAMPLE FOR THE DRESS!!!!
As an interesting aside the sketches were not actually drawn by Betty Newmarch, but by her sketch artist Patricia Hunter. Sadly, as of yet I have not found any information about Hunter, but it would appear most of the distinctive sketches associated with Horrockses were infact drawn by her. I suppose I had always assumed that the fashion designer would complete the sketches themselves in this period, but it would appear not!
So back to the dress, what I also found interesting was that there were quite a number of these extravagant pique cotton dresses scattered through this sketch book, and it appears that when dresses were left plain this was a “go to” fabric for Horrockses.
                      
                              
This is another example of a similarly delightful sundress and bolero using white and yellow pique cotton. A housecoat later on in the sketchbook (also made from this pique) is illustrated as being “made exclusively for Simpson’s Picadilly”. It is interesting to note that a number of dresses had certain shop names written above them, suggesting that they were produced exclusively for a particular shop.
So what has this taught me? The value of research, for sure and also that your instincts (however strong) aren’t necessarily right.
Sketchbook accession number: AAD/1995/16/5/1

My New Years eve dress!

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This post really should have been published last week, but my camera charger was on holiday!

I just wanted to share with you all the dress I wore on New Years Eve- mostly because it hasn’t featured on my blog before. Sorry that there is only one pic- and I have my eyes closed- This was all I managed to take before my camera kindly ran out of battery.

The dress is one of my many Horrockses numbers. This dress actually featured in Homes and antiques earlier this year.

The dress is quite a-typical for Horrockses- featuring a satin trim around the hem and piping details to the sleeves. It has a slightly flamenco dancer feel to it.

The print is incredibly interesting as it is printed cotton yet designed to resemble lace- demonstrating the ever innovative work of Horrockses print designers.

A few pics of me and my friends from the night (I had drunk a *tad* too much in most of these pictures hence why I look a little frazzled you may say!)

Now updated with even more pics of my gorgeous friends. P.s. My friend Ellie ( in the gorgeous burgundy Indian embroidered dress was a slightly 20s feel) also is a super fly blogger ; ) you can find her here.

Festival of Vintage: Epsom…what a day!

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Yesterday I had a totally fabulous day as I was exhibiting some of my vintage dress at the Festival of Vintage in Epsom. You can see my stand here…
I had around 30 dresses with me for the festival, I had so many lovely comments about my dresses!The response to the dresses was fantastic
 
 

This was my dress for the day (apologies for the state of my face…5 mins of make up and a tad too much to drink the night before didn’t leave me looking at my best!) One of my favey fave Horrockses, recently repaired by the wonderful splendid stitches. The dress has its matching bolero, but it doesn’t fit as well as the dress does.

There were so many fabulously dressed people at FOV, the fashion show therefore was an absolute highlight (myself and Naomi Thompson judged it!).

This was Shauna who had to be one of the best dressed people I saw yesterday. Her original 40s dress was a-mazing.

And this is the lovely Holly Foster who won best dressed. Her dress is by California cottons and her shoes and bag are both original 50s. She looked so stylish!!!
FOV was a great place for seeing friends old and new, and reminding me yet again of the power of twitter as this is where i first “met” many of the people I saw today!
Lets hope Keeley has some more events coming down South. The discover vintage fairs were always one of my highlights when I was at uni in Leeds so it was great to go to one of Keeleys fair again (although in a different guise). She always carefully picks the traders, meaning the quality of vintage in offer is always high. I could have spent so much money yesterday, but for once I was good ; ) There are lots of traders who I will be looking up in more detail soon for sure.