Norman Hartnell was best known as the couturier to the British royal family. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s he designed a wide range of clothes that Princess Margaret wore for her official duties. This evening dress is made in a heavy black ribbed silk called grosgrain. It shows the Princess's taste for uncluttered simple lines with the minimum of decoration. Here just the shoulder straps are embroidered with silvered beads and diamantés. The skirt is the most important feature. It is constructed in ten panels and finished with bold scallops at the hem. The heavy weight and density of the fabric holds the flared shape of the skirt and its wave-like folds.
Physical description
Cocktail dress of thick black silk and wool faille lined with horsehair. The bodice is tight and moulded to a heart-shaped décolleté, with shoulder straps embroidered with sequins and diamante. The skirt falls in petal-shaped panels from the waist, and creates a scalloped hem. The dress has no lining.
Place of Origin
London
Date
early 1950s (made)
Artist/maker
Hartnell, Norman
Materials and Techniques
Silk and wool faille lined with horsehair, embroidered with sequins and diamante
Dimensions
Circumference: 55 cm (Waist)
Diameter: 100 cm (Skirt hem)
Descriptive line
Black ribbed silk embroidered with silvered beads and diamantés, Hartnell, London, early 1950s
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
de la Haye, A., 'Material Evidence' in Wilcox, C., ed., The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-57 (V&A Publications, 2007), p.106 and pl.4.16
Hartnell designed an elegant black evening dress for Princess Margaret in the early 1950s, made in ottoman silk with a fitted bodice and full skirt that has a scalloped hemline. Apart from mourning dress, it was unusual for the royal family to wear black. As Hartnell observed: 'As a rule, ladies of the Royal Family wear light coloured clothes because such colours are more discernible against a great crowd, most of which will be wearing dark everyday colours.' Princess Margaret gave this dress to the V&A in 1986.
Labels and date
Evening dress
Norman Hartnell (1901-79)
London
Early 1950s
Apart from mourning dress, it was unusual for the royal family to wear black. As Hartnell observed: 'As a rule, ladies of the Royal Family wear light coloured clothes because such colours are more discernible against a great crowd.'
Silk and wool faille lined with horsehair, embroidered with sequins and diamante
Given by Princess Margaret
V&A: T.238-1986
Materials
Diamante; Horsehair; Wool and silk; Faille
Techniques
Weaving; Hand sewing; Embroidery
Categories
Evening wear; Fashion; Royalty; Embroidery
Production Type and Product Note
Haute couture
Collection code
T&D
