Lady Alexandra Howard-Johnston (1907-97) was the wife of the Naval Attaché to Paris at the end of the 1940s. She required an extensive wardrobe for the many formal dinners and state functions that she had to attend.
A couture client would attend all the fashion collections, seated in the front row if she were especially important like Lady Alexandra. After the show, she would place her orders with her vendeuse (personal saleswoman).
Lady Alexandra dressed exclusively at the house of Jacques Fath (1912-54), and commissioned this dress from Jacques Fath shortly before he died, for her second marriage to Hugh Trevor-Roper (later Baron Dacre). She told Cecil Beaton, ‘the dress made for my wedding to Hugh was made up on the wrong side of the material (my idea because the colour of the right side did not suit me) and that dress was worn and worn’.
Physical description
Jacket and dress in pale brown worsted and cotton, figured with a spot pattern in gold gilt thread.
[Jacket] Short fitted jacket with long sleeves, and with a mock collar and fastens with three self-covered buttons at the lower front. The cut on the shoulders is complex.
[Dress] Dress with shoulder straps attached to the upper part of the bodice. Waisted and with a wide multi-panelled and darted skirt. Centre back zip fastening, with a tab across the zip at the top with button and hook fastening. The bodice is lined and boned, and has circular bust pads. The skirt of the dress is lined and has two layers of net, with three at the back.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (made)
Date
1954 (made)
Artist/maker
Jacques Fath, born 1912 - died 1954 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Worsted and cotton, figured with gold lurex thread, lined and boned
Marks and inscriptions
'Jacques Fath / Paris' [with emblem above]
Dimensions
Circumference: 60 cm waist, Circumference: 81 cm bust
Object history note
Lady Alexandra was married to Hugh Trevor-Roper in this Fath dress on October 4, 1954.
The dress is modest as this was her second marriage. She had previously been married to Captain (later Rear-Admiral) Clarence Dinsmore Howard-Johnston, by whom she had had three children.
Historical context note
Lady Trevor-Roper favoured designs by Jacques Fath for her wardrobe, and contributed the vast proportion of the V&A's Fath collection.
Descriptive line
Jacket and dress in pale brown worsted and cotton, designed by Jacques Fath, Paris, 1954
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Cecil Beaton gift Registered Papers, RP/1970/3752 F/5
The dress made for my wedding to Hugh was made up on the wrong side of the material (my idea because the colour of the right side did not suit me) and that dress was worn and worn. Love from Xandra.
[Again, in a further letter...] I also have my Fath dress and jacket made for my wedding to Hugh in 1954 but I think it may not be effective enough for your exhibition. I happen to have a pattern of the material (which I enclose) and will gladly give it to the V&A if its not too dull looking.
Lynn, E., 'Lady Alexandra' in Wilcox, C., ed., The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-57 (V&A Publications: 2007), p.172 and pl. 7.17
Vickers, H., 'Cecil Beaton and his anthology of fashion', in Wilcox, C., ed., The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-57 (V&A Publications: 2007), p. 165
Lady Alexandra Trevor-Roper's Memoirs (unpublished) In the possession of Xenia Dennen (Lady Alexandra's daughter) [Eleri Lynn 17/07/06]
Wedding to Hugh Trevor-Roper:
(p.441 typed) We drove back to England via Freiburg and through France. Hugh went back to Oxford and I went to join the children in Scotland at Birchfield. We just waited for the time to pass before we could be married. I took a quick trip to Paris to get a dress, jacket and hat made by Jacques Fath to wear for my wedding. It was beige and gold and the hat was velvet to match. Madame Dufy [Lady Alexandra's vendeuse and sister of the painter Raoul] was very thrilled; I think that she sensed I had not been happy in the past.
We were married in the Presbyterian Church in Maylebone on October 4th, 1954. The Longfords said it was (p.442 typed) alright for them to attend as Roman Catholics as my ex-husband had been married before so my marriage to him did not count!
Tatler, September 2007, p.142-3
Written by Richard Dennen, Lady Alexandra's grandson:
When my grandfather did a runner (they had hit the slopes together in Switzerland, she twisted her ankle and he skied off to his next wife in the South of France), she sought solace in couture, donning a Fath number in beige and gold for her 1954 wedding to historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, later Lord Dacre. Jacques Fath died a month later. In the Sixties she turned to Lanvin and a life mainly back in Scotland.
Exhibition History
The Golden Age of Couture. Paris and London 1947 - 1957 (Victoria and Albert Museum 22/09/2007-06/01/2008)
Labels and date
LADY ALEXANDRA: A COUTURE CLIENT
Lady Alexandra Howard-Johnston (later Lady Dacre) was the wife of the Naval Attaché to Paris. She required an extensive wardrobe for the many formal dinners and state functions that she had to attend.
A couture client would attend all the fashion collections, seated in the front row if she were especially important. After the show, she would place her orders with her personal vendeuse or saleswoman. A calico toile would be created, then the final garment, a process involving numerous time-consuming fittings.
Lady Alexandra dressed exclusively at Jacques Fath. The designer lent her evening and day dresses each season, aware of the publicity that this would give his house. 'If there was a Fath dress I wanted to keep, I could pay sale price at the end of the season. I was not allowed to go to any other couturier, but I did not want to - Fath was perfection.'
Dress and jacket
Jacques Fath (1912-54)
Paris
1954
Lady Alexandra commissioned this dress from Jacques Fath, shortly before he died, for her second marriage to Hugh Trevor-Roper. She told Cecil Beaton, 'the dress made for my wedding to Hugh was made up on the wrong side of the material (my idea because the colour of the right side did not suit me) and that dress was worn and worn.' [61 words]
Wool and Lurex
[Shown along with a photograph album showing the dress being worn at the wedding. Lent by Lady Alexandra's daughter, Mrs. Xenia Dennen; also shown with some of the letters from the Registered Files RP/1970/3752 F/5]
Given by Lady Dacre
V&A: T.178&A-1974 [22/09/2007]
Associated names
Trevor-Roper, Hugh (Baron Dacre of Glanton); Cecil Beaton
Materials
Cotton; Lurex; Worsted; Nylon net; Whalebone
Techniques
Weaving; Sewing
Categories
Fashion; Marriage; Women's clothes
Production Type
Haute couture
Collection code
T&F
