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Poster Dress

Paper Dress
1968 (made)
Artist/Maker
Harry Gordon (designer)
Place of origin
London (made)

'Poster dresses' were part of new enthusiasm for posters in the late 1960s. Posters were popular as a quick, cheap and temporary way to decorate a domestic interior. The poster dress reflected a similar taste for fast-changing fashions and disposable clothing. The packaging of this dress suggests that when you are bored with it "why not...cut open all the seams and hang it on your wall as a poster...or cover pillows...or as your collection grows, sew them together to make a bedspread or curtains or a table-cloth."


Object details

Categories
Fashion
Womenswear
Interiors
Object type
Paper dress
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Dress
  • Print
  • Print
Titles
  • Poster Dress (generic title)
  • Cat (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Screen printed tissue, wood pulp and rayon mesh, with polythene and card packaging
Tissue Paper
Wood Pulp
Rayon
Polythene
Card
Screen Printing
Brief description
Paper dress/Poster dress 'Cat', disposable, screen printed on rayon and nylon mix, designed by Harry Gordon, London, 1968
Physical description
Poster dress, of screen printed tissue, wood pulp and rayon mesh in polythene and card packaging. The 'paper' dress is printed with a black and white with image of cat. Text in black on red.
Dimensions
  • Dress height when unfolded height: 900 mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging)
  • Dress width when unfolded width: 290 - 600mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging)
  • Folded dress, plastic packaging and card insert height: 300mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging)
  • Folded dress, palstic packaging, paper insert width: 300mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging )
  • Card packaging height height: 90mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging)
  • Card packaging width width: 306mm (Note: Object has four parts: dress, plastic packaging, card insert, card packaging)
Summary
'Poster dresses' were part of new enthusiasm for posters in the late 1960s. Posters were popular as a quick, cheap and temporary way to decorate a domestic interior. The poster dress reflected a similar taste for fast-changing fashions and disposable clothing. The packaging of this dress suggests that when you are bored with it "why not...cut open all the seams and hang it on your wall as a poster...or cover pillows...or as your collection grows, sew them together to make a bedspread or curtains or a table-cloth."
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.375-2011

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Record createdJuly 28, 2011
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1239965/poster-dress-paper-dress-harry-gordon/
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