Dress
1977 (designed and made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The dress was comissioned by Professor Lalage Bown to Shade Thomas Fahm. Designed in 1977 for Bown to wear to Buckingham Palace to receive her OBE in the same year. The designer Folashade ‘Shade’ Thomas-Fahm had studied fashion at St Martin’s School of Art in London, before returning to Lagos in 1960 to open her boutique. Championing Nigerian fabrics and silhouettes, Thomas-Fahm designed for the cosmopolitan, working woman.
While the silhouette and embroidery are characteristic of Thomas-Fahm’s style, she made the dress in heavy red velvet to help Bown combat the chill of the cold English weather. She designed it with a matching hat, styled to look like a gèlè, headwrap. While Bown was pleased with the design, she felt it was too exuberant for the daytime service at Buckingham Palace and ultimately wore it for her celebration party afterwards.
While the silhouette and embroidery are characteristic of Thomas-Fahm’s style, she made the dress in heavy red velvet to help Bown combat the chill of the cold English weather. She designed it with a matching hat, styled to look like a gèlè, headwrap. While Bown was pleased with the design, she felt it was too exuberant for the daytime service at Buckingham Palace and ultimately wore it for her celebration party afterwards.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Velvet, Embroidery |
| Brief description | Dress and hat, red synthetic velvet, designed by Shade Thomas-Fahm for Lalage Bown, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977 |
| Physical description | The silhouette and embroidery are characteristic of Thomas-Fahm’s kaftan style dress. The body of the dress is in red velvet. The exagerated flared sleeve and bottom half of the dress is embroidered. There is also embroidery on the neckline. It has a matching hat in red velvet which is styled to look like a gèlè, headwrap. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label | A loyal customer of Maison Shade, Lalage Bown, a professor at Ibadan University in Nigeria, bought this dress to wear to receive her OBE at Buckingham Palace. While the silhouette and lurex embroidery are characteristic of Thomas-Fahm’s aesthetic, she made the dress in heavy red velvet to help combat the cold English weather. V&A, Room 40, Africa Fashion (02/07/2022 - 16/04/2023) |
| Credit line | Given by Professor Lalage Bown |
| Object history | Professor Lalage Bown comissioned this dress for Shade Thomas Fahm in 1997 to wear at Buckingham Palace to receive her OBE in the same year. |
| Summary | The dress was comissioned by Professor Lalage Bown to Shade Thomas Fahm. Designed in 1977 for Bown to wear to Buckingham Palace to receive her OBE in the same year. The designer Folashade ‘Shade’ Thomas-Fahm had studied fashion at St Martin’s School of Art in London, before returning to Lagos in 1960 to open her boutique. Championing Nigerian fabrics and silhouettes, Thomas-Fahm designed for the cosmopolitan, working woman. While the silhouette and embroidery are characteristic of Thomas-Fahm’s style, she made the dress in heavy red velvet to help Bown combat the chill of the cold English weather. She designed it with a matching hat, styled to look like a gèlè, headwrap. While Bown was pleased with the design, she felt it was too exuberant for the daytime service at Buckingham Palace and ultimately wore it for her celebration party afterwards. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.2418:1,2-2021 |
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| Record created | May 9, 2021 |
| Record URL |
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