Not currently on display at the V&A

Evening Dress

1969-1974 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cream moss crêpe evening dress, full length, with large bishop sleeves, dog-ear collar and buttoned cuffs. The dress buttons down the front with covered buttons and loops, and has incorporated sash ends.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Moss crêpe
Brief description
Long evening dress of moss crêpe, designed by Ossie Clark for Radley, London, 1969-1974
Physical description
Cream moss crêpe evening dress, full length, with large bishop sleeves, dog-ear collar and buttoned cuffs. The dress buttons down the front with covered buttons and loops, and has incorporated sash ends.
Dimensions
  • Circumference: 890mm (Note: Loose fitted bust)
  • Circumference: 720mm (Note: waist)
  • Width: 421mm (Note: shoulder seam to shoulder seam)
  • Length: 1582mm
Production typeMass produced
Marks and inscriptions
'designed by / OSSIE / CLARK / for radley' (This is the label format used between 1969 and 1974, when the Ossie Clark for Radley label changed to a more Deco, less boldly graphic format.)
Credit line
Given by Miss Nan Bridgeford
Object history
This dress was one of the most popular designs created by Ossie Clark for Radley. It was produced throughout his time with Radley, with subtle variations such as a varying number of buttons on the cuffs and down the front, fuller or less full sleeves, buttons down to the waist, or beyond the waist; various collar shapes, from pointed to rounded to dog-ear; and separate self-fabric sashes, or long sash ends incorporated into the dress itself. This particular example is a true coat-dress, in that it is entirely open down the front when unbuttoned.

It was produced in a huge range of colours, from darkest black, through jewel tones of red and green, strident yellows, dark purple and plums, subtler duck-egg blues and creams (as here) and sorbet tones of apricot and peach, to pure white.

These dresses cost between £20 and £25 in the early 1970s, and were one of the most affordable and consistently best-selling, popular designs in the Ossie Clark for Radley range.
- Daniel Milford-Cottam
Collection
Accession number
T.578-1996

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Record createdJuly 3, 2007
Record URL
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