Design for Wiletts and Sons
Design
1920s (made)
1920s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is from the packaging company Willetts & Sons, which was based in London from 1910 until the 1960s. The company made paper bags, card boxes, labels and tickets for a range of different clothes stores. Sometimes they employed artists to illustrate these items.
This example was drawn by a commercial artist at the little-known Roseland Studio in the 1920s. It shows a woman with fashionably short hair wearing a sophisticated evening dress and holding an ostrich feather. Such an image was clearly designed to appeal to fashionable customers and to reflect well on the clothes store which used it.
The V&A holds over 40 similar designs from Willetts & Sons.
This example was drawn by a commercial artist at the little-known Roseland Studio in the 1920s. It shows a woman with fashionably short hair wearing a sophisticated evening dress and holding an ostrich feather. Such an image was clearly designed to appeal to fashionable customers and to reflect well on the clothes store which used it.
The V&A holds over 40 similar designs from Willetts & Sons.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Design for Wiletts and Sons (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pen, ink and pencil on cream card |
| Brief description | A design drawing by the Roseland Studio for the packaging firm of Willetts and Sons, London, showing a woman wearing an evening dress, 1920s |
| Physical description | Drawing of a woman wearing a sleeveless black silk evening dress, seen from behind. The dress is open at the back in a v-shape and there is a panel of floral fabric across the model’s bottom. The hem slopes down from the front forming a short train at the back. The model holds a large feather. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Presented by Mrs Pamela Joan Gordon in memory of her father, George Frederick Willetts (1893-1961) |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This design is from the packaging company Willetts & Sons, which was based in London from 1910 until the 1960s. The company made paper bags, card boxes, labels and tickets for a range of different clothes stores. Sometimes they employed artists to illustrate these items. This example was drawn by a commercial artist at the little-known Roseland Studio in the 1920s. It shows a woman with fashionably short hair wearing a sophisticated evening dress and holding an ostrich feather. Such an image was clearly designed to appeal to fashionable customers and to reflect well on the clothes store which used it. The V&A holds over 40 similar designs from Willetts & Sons. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.3219-2004 |
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| Record created | July 15, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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