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Fashion illustration by Veronica Papworth

Fashion Illustration
1966 (made)
Artist/Maker
The Sunday Express (publisher)
Papworth, Veronica (artist)
Place of origin
London (made)

Fashion illustration depicting a woman in a sleeveless, floor-length nightie. The nightie has a scalloped hem and lace decoration at the waist with a bow and a rose. It is decorated on the right, from top to bottom with embroidered flowers. The newspaper clipping adhered to the reverse has been torn, removing a portion of the illustration.

Object details

Categories
Designs
Fashion
Illustration
Object type
Fashion illustration
TitleFashion illustration by Veronica Papworth (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Drawn with pencil and ink on paper. Newspaper clipping adhered to reverse. Annotated on obverse and reverse.
Paper
Pencil
Ink
Newspaper
Glue
Fashion Illustration
Brief description
Fashion illustration by Veronica Papworth for The Sunday Express, pencil and ink on paper, London, 1966
Physical description
Fashion illustration depicting a woman in a sleeveless, floor-length nightie. The nightie has a scalloped hem and lace decoration at the waist with a bow and a rose. It is decorated on the right, from top to bottom with embroidered flowers. The newspaper clipping adhered to the reverse has been torn, removing a portion of the illustration.
Dimensions
  • Height: 40.4cm
  • Width: 23cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 6" SE (Annotated in pencil on obverse)
  • Reproduced S/E P19 4-12-66 (Inscribed on reverse in red biro)
  • Fashion Line Papworth (Inscribed on reverse in blue ink)
  • STOCK / 4 DEC 1966 (Stamped on reverse in blue ink)
  • A STOCK character born of commercial Christmas - along with the Technicolor robin, the merry wassailers, and Santa Claus in his cotton-wool beard - is the Man in Search of a Nightie. I have never met him, but I am assured he exists, and according to all lingerie buyers he makes an annual appearance only. Hesitant, diffident, pink about the gills, and moist around the palms, he blunders into every store in search of several guineas worth of black lace glamour. His first move is to find an assistant who is more or less the same size as the recipient. His second is to leave the selection to her. His third is to get the hell out of the place as fast as his two feet and impeding shoppers permit. The sequel to this saga of daring do, according to those who know, is the post-holiday arrival of the recipient all set to exchange the gift for something more sensible. If all this is true I can only assume that most stores hold stocks of black "nonsense" nighties strictly reserved for this seasonal pantomime. It only remains to suggest that the Man in Search of Nightie might well consider the two I have sketched today. They are both white - so much more flattering than black - and so ravishingly pretty I cannot see how any woman could bear to return either of them. White nylon lace nightie threaded with pale-blue ribbons. 79s 6d. (Caption from newspaper clipping adhered to reverse)
Credit line
Given by Fiona Shannon
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.530-2015

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Record createdSeptember 30, 2015
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1322370/fashion-illustration-by-veronica-papworth-fashion-illustration-papworth-veronica/
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