Blue bird
Dress Fabric
1953 (made)
1953 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This textile is from the archive of Zika Ascher, an innovative textile manufacturer who based himself in London after the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. His wife designed textiles and their company became incorporated in 1942 (Ascher Ltd). Ascher developed a range of different fabrics for use at the top end of the market. Like other manufacturers, he used samples such as this one as a method of showing prospective clients his wares, and as a record of his output.
This particular design is typical of those made smart summer dresses in the 1950s. Christian Dior made this fabric into a dressy afternoon dress and coat (model no. 94) for his Spring/Summer collection of 1953. Its success was recorded by Alison Settle in an article in The Observer on February 8th 1953 in which she noted 'The French felt they could use no birds as they brought ill-luck but now by their sales, they realise that those painted ones fly with fortune in their beaks'.
This particular design is typical of those made smart summer dresses in the 1950s. Christian Dior made this fabric into a dressy afternoon dress and coat (model no. 94) for his Spring/Summer collection of 1953. Its success was recorded by Alison Settle in an article in The Observer on February 8th 1953 in which she noted 'The French felt they could use no birds as they brought ill-luck but now by their sales, they realise that those painted ones fly with fortune in their beaks'.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Blue bird |
| Materials and techniques | Screen-printed silk |
| Brief description | Dress fabric sample 'Blue bird' of screen-printed silk, made by Ascher Ltd., Great Britain, 1953 |
| Physical description | Dress fabric sample (full loom width) of screen-printed silk with design of swallows or bluebirds and branches of blossom. The ground is a vibrant old rose and has a slubbed effect because raw silk has been used in weaving. The print consists of seven colours: black, dark blue, two shades of light blue, grey/brown, white and cream. The raw edges are pinked (i.e. have a zig-zag raw edge). |
| Production type | Mass produced |
| Credit line | Given by Zika Ascher |
| Object history | One of two with T.183A-1988. |
| Historical context | This screen printed silk was called 'Blue Bird' and was adapted from a Chinese watercolour. It was bought and used by Christian Dior for a formal afternoon dress and coat in Spring/Summer 1953 (in the collection this was model number 94). It received extensive press coverage. Alison Settle, the fashion journalist, for example, wrote in the Observer (February 8 1953): 'And among the realistic roses and outsized tulips on silks the London-designed Ascher silk prints of orchard boughs and singing birds are used by Dior, Schiaparelli and many other leading designers. The French felt they could use no birds as they brought ill-luck but now by their sales, they realise that those painted ones fly with fortune in their beaks.' (cited in Mendes on p. 164). |
| Production | Christian Dior made this fabric into a dressy afternoon dress (model no. 94) for his Spring/Summer collection of 1953. Its success was recorded by Alison Settle in an article in The Observer on February 8th 1953. Attribution note: Ascher initially targeted haute couture designers, but his textiles were not made purely for their use. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This textile is from the archive of Zika Ascher, an innovative textile manufacturer who based himself in London after the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. His wife designed textiles and their company became incorporated in 1942 (Ascher Ltd). Ascher developed a range of different fabrics for use at the top end of the market. Like other manufacturers, he used samples such as this one as a method of showing prospective clients his wares, and as a record of his output. This particular design is typical of those made smart summer dresses in the 1950s. Christian Dior made this fabric into a dressy afternoon dress and coat (model no. 94) for his Spring/Summer collection of 1953. Its success was recorded by Alison Settle in an article in The Observer on February 8th 1953 in which she noted 'The French felt they could use no birds as they brought ill-luck but now by their sales, they realise that those painted ones fly with fortune in their beaks'. |
| Bibliographic reference | Mendes, Valerie. Ascher. Fabric, Art, Fashion. London: V&A Publications, 1987, pp. 164-5.
|
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.183-1988 |
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| Record created | March 28, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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