White cotton wedding dress designed by Horrockses, 1950

The dress is long sleeved, with a high neckline, with a pointed edged collar. It fastens with buttons up the front. It is made from cotton broderie anglaise, imported from St Gallen, Switzerland. The dress is decorated with a floral design.

Given by Daphne Razzell

Dress was made for the wedding of Daphne Patten to Arthur Razzell in 1950.

The donor of this dress, Daphne Razzell, née Platten, worked for Horrockses as a fashion design assistant until her marriage in 1950. She joined the firm, aged 16, in 1946 from Bromley College of Art and was originally employed as a fashion illustrator. She was the assistant to John Tullis, head of the design team. Tullis was particularly supportive of his assistants and they were given opportunities to design. Daphne was employed to produce two sketches of each garment designed by the firm. She sent one sketch, along with a sample, pattern and specification sheet to Ivy Mill in Manchester, which was Horrockses Fashions’ main factory, to assist them in manufacturing the garments in accordance with the designers’ specifications; the other sketch was retained at the company’s premises at George Street, London. Daphne sketched from memory or asked the resident mannequin to model the designs for her. The V&A’s Archive of Art and Design (AAD) has acquired some of Daphne’s designs from her time working at Horrockses.

Dress was made by Horrockses for the weddding of Daphne Razzell in 1950. Designed by Marta Pirn, chief designer for Horrockses

T.1600-2017