Wedding dress & lace coat with hood, Berketex, British, worn September 1970.

Wedding dress and coat. The dress is a straight-cut sleeveless column style in unlined white synthetic satin. Over it is worn a full length coat of white machine-made lace with flared sleeves, hood and long train, the cuffs, hood and train bordered with tight ruffles of the same lace and the coat fastens at the neck with a row of small pearl buttons. The main body of the coat is unlined, and the hood is lined with slightly stiffer white machine-made synthetic net.

Given by Mrs Susan Evans

This gown and coat were worn by Susan Fryer for her marriage to Stephen Smith on 1 September 1970 at Wembley Park Congregational Church. Susan chose the dress after seeing it illustrated in a magazine because she liked the singer Lulu's wedding outfit and the dress reminded her of it. The hooded lace coat offered an alternative to a wedding veil, which she did not want to wear. The outfit originally cost £33.00 and was purchased from the Berketex branch at Oxford Street, London.

Historical significance: This dress is the V&A's first example of ready-to-wear bridalwear. The majority of 20th century wedding dresses in our collection are either a) expensive high-end designer dresses, b) specially designed and made for an individual bride, or c) not designed as bridal wear, but chosen by a bride to act as a wedding outfit. This outfit therefore represents an important aspect of 20th century wedding dress history.

Secondly, this outfit is our first example of Berketex’s designs. Berketex, founded in 1936, became an extremely successful British ready-to-wear company with a significant presence in the ready-to-wear fashion scene during the 1940s-1980s. This outfit is our first example of their clothing. It was purchased from the Oxford Street branch of Berketex in London and cost £33.00.

Thirdly, the design of this wedding outfit is not duplicated in our holdings. It consists of a sleeveless satin gown and lace coat with a deep hood, flared sleeves, and a short flared train. The concept of a lightweight sheer or semi-sheer coat over a simple gown became very popular in the early 1990s, making this outfit quite innovative for a 1970 ready-to-wear design.

This coat and dress ensemble was chosen by Susan Fryer for her marriage to Stephen Smith on 1 September 1970 at Wembley Park Congregational Church, Middlesex. It was designed and retailed by Berketex, a successful British ready-to-wear company founded in Plymouth in 1936. They catered to women looking for fashionable, good quality ready-made daywear, evening gowns, and wedding dresses at reasonable prices. The company now exclusively manufactures bridalwear.

This outfit is well-designed and innovative. The full length trailing coat in machine-made lace has a deep hood which offers an elegant alternative to a traditional wedding veil. The simple sleeveless satin dress underneath could be worn afterwards as an evening dress. The bride first saw the dress illustrated in a magazine, and went to the Berketex shop in Oxford Street, London to buy it directly from them. She liked it because it reminded her of the hooded coat the singer Lulu wore for her 1969 wedding.

T.48:1, 2-2010