Evening Dress
1964 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This evening dress is an excellent example of the John Bates’ designs for Jean Varon. Bates (b.1935) is a British fashion designer. While Bates is perhaps better known for his adventurous micro-minidresses and midriff baring ensembles, he also created more conventional full-length dresses which were very popular.
This evening dress was made in 1964 which is a particularly significant point in the history of Jean Varon as the label was becoming fully established, with many shops placing orders to sell the label. In August 1963 Women’s Mirror Magazine had featured Julie Christie on the cover wearing a Jean Varon dress and the line was also featured in the September issue of Vanity Fair .
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | evening dress, pink organza decorated with white flowers, designed by John Bates for Jean Varon, England, 1964 |
| Physical description | Evening dress made of pink organza. The dress is floor-length with an empire waist and no sleeves. The bodice part of the dress is decorated with small white flowers and a pink bow. |
| Credit line | Given by Judith M Hitchman |
| Object history | This dress was purchased from Fenwick, Bond Street. It was worn by the donor at the Cambridge May Ball, probably in 1964 but possibly in 1965. |
| Historical context | This dress is designed to be worn for evening events. We have been able find an image of model Jean Shrimpton wearing the same design by Varon. We have not yet been able to find the original source of the image but have found similar pictures of Varon pieces featured in Vogue in 1964. |
| Associations | |
| Summary | This evening dress is an excellent example of the John Bates’ designs for Jean Varon. Bates (b.1935) is a British fashion designer. While Bates is perhaps better known for his adventurous micro-minidresses and midriff baring ensembles, he also created more conventional full-length dresses which were very popular. This evening dress was made in 1964 which is a particularly significant point in the history of Jean Varon as the label was becoming fully established, with many shops placing orders to sell the label. In August 1963 Women’s Mirror Magazine had featured Julie Christie on the cover wearing a Jean Varon dress and the line was also featured in the September issue of Vanity Fair . |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.1608-2017 |
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| Record created | April 5, 2017 |
| Record URL |
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