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Angélique

Cocktail Dress
1967 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Jacques Heim dress from Spring 1967 collection adapts daring youth styles for high-quality ready-to-wear customers. The swirling chiffon minidress with huge bell sleeves could have come from a young person's boutique off King's Road in London. However, Heim knew that his clients would not wear sheer dresses without an underdress. The satin underdress in the same print renders the design acceptable to a slightly more conservative clientele.

Jacques Heim launched his couture business in the 1920s. In the 1940s he was one of the first couturiers to sell ready-to-wear clothing in boutiques. In 1957, Heim struck a deal with the London manufacturer R.L.Salmon Ltd. They bought the exclusive rights to reproduce Jacques Heim's Paris collections for a British audience. Twice a year, the couture house sent them sketches and materials for Spring or Autumn collections. The final results were approved by Heim before the clothes were sold by high end London boutiques.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAngélique (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Printed silk satin overlaid with silk chiffon
Brief description
Silk chiffon and silk satin cocktail mini-dress 'Angélique', designed by Jacques Heim, made by R.L. Salmon Ltd., London, 1967
Physical description
Silk chiffon tent cocktail mini-dress with overlong flared sleeves down to the hem and slit up to the elbow. Chiffon rouleau bow at the top of the sleeve slits. Silk satin trapeze underdress, both printed in candy colours of pinks, blue, yellow and greens with an abstract print.
Dimensions
  • Shoulder to hem length: 93cm
Production typeModel
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'JACQUES HEIM / PARIS LONDON' (Label in neck)
  • 'MADE IN LONDON' (Sideways along edge of label.)
Credit line
Given by Mrs Naomi Robins.
Object history
This is one of a group of Heim garments donated in 1998 along with design books and fabric swatches, some of which directly relate to the garments.

They were donated by the daughter of the owners of R.L. Salmon Ltd. This was a London dress manufacturer who acquired exclusive rights to make and sell the couturier Jacques Heim's designs in London from 1957. In most instances, R.L. Salmon Ltd used the French fabrics that Heim recommended, and Heim always approved the end product.

This particular design is in the design book dated Spring 1967, ID'd as model number 7, "Angélique", number 3190
Production
Spring 1967

Attribution note: From the Spring 1967 collection
Reason For Production: Retail
Summary
This Jacques Heim dress from Spring 1967 collection adapts daring youth styles for high-quality ready-to-wear customers. The swirling chiffon minidress with huge bell sleeves could have come from a young person's boutique off King's Road in London. However, Heim knew that his clients would not wear sheer dresses without an underdress. The satin underdress in the same print renders the design acceptable to a slightly more conservative clientele.

Jacques Heim launched his couture business in the 1920s. In the 1940s he was one of the first couturiers to sell ready-to-wear clothing in boutiques. In 1957, Heim struck a deal with the London manufacturer R.L.Salmon Ltd. They bought the exclusive rights to reproduce Jacques Heim's Paris collections for a British audience. Twice a year, the couture house sent them sketches and materials for Spring or Autumn collections. The final results were approved by Heim before the clothes were sold by high end London boutiques.
Other numbers
  • 3190 - design number
  • 7 - Model number
Collection
Accession number
T.143-1998

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Record createdFebruary 8, 2007
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