Ensemble comprising of kimono-style leather jacket, tights and hat, jumper, belt, slippers and five rings designed by Shirley Beljon, London, 1968.

Ensemble of navy blue leather kimono-style jacket, 'tights' and hat.

The jacket is fastened with a metal popper and is fitted with an internal elasticated band around the waist which allows it to be worn either single or double breased. The tights fully enclose the feet and legs and fasten with zips on the back of each leg from the knee to ankle. They are held up with a pair of braces. The jumper is oversized with a rollneck collar and the sleeves have been stitched to be worn as three-quarter length. The jumper is worn with a wide red leather belt, fastened with a large square metal buckle and poppers.

The hat, also in navy blue leather, fully covers the head with cut-outs for the ear and is finished with a stylised leather 'chonmage', based on the traditional Japanese men's hairstyle.

There are five rings in total: two silver bands inlaid with lapis, one silver and filigree ring with a large red cabachon stone and one ivory-coloured undulating resin band.

The burgundy mule slippers have a wedge heel and are finished with machine embroidery. They are in their original box.

Given by Mrs Shirley Beljon

Shirley Beljon is a photographer, model and fashion designer. Born in South Africa, Beljon started her career as a model for South African photographer Sam Haskins (1928-2009) and gained international recognition as the fictional heroine ‘Kate’ in Haskins’ photobook Cowboy Kate & Other Stories (1964). In 1965 Beljon moved to London to study design at the London College of Fashion, and later at the Royal College of Art.

In the 1970s Beljon worked as a (self-taught) photographer, photographing the work of British fashion designers such as Jean Muir and Celia Birtwell for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, British Vogue and the Sunday Times. In the late 1970s Beljon worked as a documentary photographer, contributing images to the feminist women’s magazine Spare Rib and literary periodical The London Magazine.

In 1980 Beljon was appointed Director of Photography for the touring exhibition Jean Muir and photographed prominent British women such as artist Bridget Riley and actress Joanna Lumley wearing Muir’s designs. Several of her portraits, including one of Muir, are held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. A lithograph of this portrait is also held by the V&A (E.608-1980).

This ensemble is one of four designed by Beljon in 1968 as part of her Royal College of Art graduate collection. The collection was featured in Depeche Mode magazine shortly after being released and was described as ‘the most original of the London collections.’ Beljon has provided notes for each ensemble, outlining the design inspiration behind each look, in particular the inspiration she found in Japanese fashion and culture.

Shirley Beljon wore a variation of this outfit to the opening of the exhibition 'Women, Fashion, Power' at the Design Museum in 2014. A photograph of Beljon modelling another of her designs similar to the tights in this ensemble was also on display.

As with her other ensembles, Beljon was particularly inspired by Japanese forms of dress. The kimono-style bodice, hat and tights are all made from Pittard’s glove leather; the latter being made on a last at the Lotus Formula 1 racing car factory where Beljon had worked in the 1960s. The helmet hat was designed by Beljon and made by Brian Harris, millinery tutor at the RCA. The shape of the helmet was inspired by chonmage, a Japanese traditional topknot hairstyle worn by men since the Edo period.

T.50:1-2021