Evening dress

ID:

2002.155/1

Production date:

c. 1950

Location:

On Display: Museum of London Docklands: Rum Store

This ankle-length silk dress dating from the early 1950s is embroidered with beads, sequins and flat gold ribbon. It was worn to a wedding by Ann Marcus and made by her sister, Peggy, who owned the dressmaking company Peggy Lewis & Company. The sisters came from a Jewish family who were almost all involved in the clothing trade.  < ...Read more

This ankle-length silk dress dating from the early 1950s is embroidered with beads, sequins and flat gold ribbon. It was worn to a wedding by Ann Marcus and made by her sister, Peggy, who owned the dressmaking company Peggy Lewis & Company. The sisters came from a Jewish family who were almost all involved in the clothing trade.

Peggy had no formal training in dressmaking but became a success with the local community. By the early 1930s her business was well established, specialising in embroidery and employing up to 20 women.

It has a corseted bodice with folded fabric from the top of the centre front, covering the shoulders and fanning out to meet the bodice at the back. The skirt has five large panels, two at the back, one at each side and one at the front, all lined in a dark fabric, apart from the side panels which have a pale net lining. The bodice is lined in cream fabric. The decorative scheme has a pattern which resembles a cornucopia, of different sized beads; seed, glass, crystal, bugle and closed shell-shaped. The rainbow sequins are flat and cup shaped, with some composed of mother of pearl. Flat gold thread ribbon is secured by beads. The bodice has two large shell patterns at the front, each trailing and tapering at the back. From the waist, at the side a large swirling pattern drops diagonally down the sides towards the back, bottom of the skirt, leaving the back two panels plain. < Hide

Measurements

L 1430 mm; W 450 mm (at shoulders)

Materials

silk; gelatin

Last Updated

2024-05-08