Party Dress
1969 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This exuberant and dramatic dress was designed and made by the Dutch artist, musician, and designer Marijke Koger whilst living in Los Angeles in 1969. She made it especially for her own use, and wore it to parties. With its unique blend of textile patterns, prints, beading and appliqué, the dress is a fine example of the designer's theatrical and extravagant style.
Koger, along with Simon Posthuma, Josje Leeger and Barry Finch, was part of the Dutch design collective The Fool, who ran one of the most notorious 1960s celebrity boutiques, the Beatles' Apple Boutique. Short-lived and financially disastrous, the Apple Boutique was envisioned as "a beautiful place where you could buy beautiful things". It opened 5 December 1967 at 94 Baker Street in London, and became an instant tourist attraction due to its outrageous design, including a huge psychedelic three-storey mural designed by Koger. The boutique and its stock were designed by The Fool, who produced extravagantly theatrical garments using expensive custom-designed textiles. The Apple Boutique, while visually unforgettable, proved financially disastrous and closed down on 30 July 1968. Afterwards, Simon and Marijke moved to Los Angeles.
Some of the textiles in this dress are printed using a distinctive technique in which colours merge and graduate into each other. The Fool described these as spectrum prints. They are an advanced version of the ombré technique where, instead of one tone graduating into another, the effect is achieved with multple colours, such as deep wine-red graduating into purple graduating into blue, or even rainbow effects where a red tone graduates through orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, and back again.
Koger, along with Simon Posthuma, Josje Leeger and Barry Finch, was part of the Dutch design collective The Fool, who ran one of the most notorious 1960s celebrity boutiques, the Beatles' Apple Boutique. Short-lived and financially disastrous, the Apple Boutique was envisioned as "a beautiful place where you could buy beautiful things". It opened 5 December 1967 at 94 Baker Street in London, and became an instant tourist attraction due to its outrageous design, including a huge psychedelic three-storey mural designed by Koger. The boutique and its stock were designed by The Fool, who produced extravagantly theatrical garments using expensive custom-designed textiles. The Apple Boutique, while visually unforgettable, proved financially disastrous and closed down on 30 July 1968. Afterwards, Simon and Marijke moved to Los Angeles.
Some of the textiles in this dress are printed using a distinctive technique in which colours merge and graduate into each other. The Fool described these as spectrum prints. They are an advanced version of the ombré technique where, instead of one tone graduating into another, the effect is achieved with multple colours, such as deep wine-red graduating into purple graduating into blue, or even rainbow effects where a red tone graduates through orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, and back again.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Mixed printed silks, chiffons, and satins, felt appliqué, beading |
| Brief description | Dress with long sleeves, mixed printed silks, chiffons and satins with felt appliqué and beading. Designed and made by Marijke Koger, Los Angeles, 1969. |
| Physical description | Dress with long sleeves and layered skirt composed of various patterned chiffons, satin, and silks. The sleeves of wrist-length tight chiffon with a short puff sleeve over the top, the bodice accented with felt appliqué flowers and an applied patch of the world. Back zipper, long neck ties with Venetian millefiori glass beads on the ends. Apron panel over front of skirt is edged with a fringe of large gilt spangles and beads. Beads also around edges of neckline. The bodice peplum edged with blue chenille furnishing ball-fringe. There is a round patch to one side of the bodice which is cut out of a printed cloth wall-map. It depicts Balabac Island in the North Balabac Strait. The fabric patterns used are as follows: 1) Mauve and orange ground print with cream/beige snowflake pattern 2) Pink ground Japanese-inspired printed fabric with storks and baskets of peonies 3) Deep blue satin printed with yellow stars 4) Multi-colour marbled pattern print 5) Ombré chiffon, green to yellow 6) Ombré chiffon, wine to purple to blue 7) Blue nylon chiffon screen-printed with silver stars 8) Pink satin printed with purple stars 9) Orange ground print with slightly Paisley-ish cross motifs 10) Orange ground print with green and white trees, blue flowers 11) Pink, orange and cream print with motif like a peacock eye 12) Predominantly orange Paisley-pattern 13) Densely printed black ground with multicoloured floral pattern 14) Purple satin with speckled pattern, used as a lining to peplum and apron |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Credit line | Given by Simon Posthuma |
| Object history | Donated by one of the designers behind The Fool, Simon Posthuma. This dress was made by Marijke Koger for her personal wardrobe while she and Simon were in Los Angeles in 1969. She wore the dress to parties. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This exuberant and dramatic dress was designed and made by the Dutch artist, musician, and designer Marijke Koger whilst living in Los Angeles in 1969. She made it especially for her own use, and wore it to parties. With its unique blend of textile patterns, prints, beading and appliqué, the dress is a fine example of the designer's theatrical and extravagant style. Koger, along with Simon Posthuma, Josje Leeger and Barry Finch, was part of the Dutch design collective The Fool, who ran one of the most notorious 1960s celebrity boutiques, the Beatles' Apple Boutique. Short-lived and financially disastrous, the Apple Boutique was envisioned as "a beautiful place where you could buy beautiful things". It opened 5 December 1967 at 94 Baker Street in London, and became an instant tourist attraction due to its outrageous design, including a huge psychedelic three-storey mural designed by Koger. The boutique and its stock were designed by The Fool, who produced extravagantly theatrical garments using expensive custom-designed textiles. The Apple Boutique, while visually unforgettable, proved financially disastrous and closed down on 30 July 1968. Afterwards, Simon and Marijke moved to Los Angeles. Some of the textiles in this dress are printed using a distinctive technique in which colours merge and graduate into each other. The Fool described these as spectrum prints. They are an advanced version of the ombré technique where, instead of one tone graduating into another, the effect is achieved with multple colours, such as deep wine-red graduating into purple graduating into blue, or even rainbow effects where a red tone graduates through orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, and back again. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.314-2009 |
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| Record created | December 1, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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