Candida thumbnail 1
Candida thumbnail 2
+5
images
Not on display

Candida

Evening Dress
1964 (made)
Artist/Maker
Bellville Sassoon (designer)
David Sassoon (designer)
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

Clothes with the Bellville Sassoon label were noted for their fashionable cut, bright colour palette and youthful aura. This embroidered organdie evening dress was further embellished with pendant beads and sequins in Bellville Sassoon's workrooms. Jill Ritblat wore this dress for formal evening occasions.

Object details

Categories
Fashion
Evening Wear
Womenswear
Formal Wear
Object type
Evening dress
TitleCandida (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Organdie, silk embroidery and bead-work
Organdie
Silk (Textile)
Embroidering
Bead-Work
Brief description
Evening dress of pink embroidered organdie with silk ribbon bow, Bellville Sasson, Great Britain, 1964.
Physical description
Pink embroidered organdie dress with silk ribbon bow.
Gallery label
(1997)
Clothes with the Bellville Sassoon label were noted for their fashionable cut, bright colour palette and youthful aura. This embroidered organdie was further embellished with pendant beads and sequins in Bellville Sassoon's workrooms. Jill Ritblat wore this dress for formal evening occasions.
(25/07/2012)
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Belinda Bellville and David Sassoon excelled at designing elaborate eveningwear. They dressed many of London's stylish young women. A momentous occasion for 23-year old Jill Ritblat was the ball hosted in 1966 by Selim Zilkha to celebrate her engagement to his nephew Elie. Ritblat had ordered this couture evening dress from Bellville Sassoon's popular 'Infanta' collection eighteen months earlier. She recalled, 'I could not find anything more suitable to wear than this dress.'
David Sassoon's original drawing for the dress includes a swatch of its silk organza embroidered with crystal drop beads, made by the Swiss textile firm Naef & Co.
Credit line
Given by Mrs Jill Ritblat
Object history
Worn and given by Jill Ritblat.

Registered File number 1996/401.
Summary
Clothes with the Bellville Sassoon label were noted for their fashionable cut, bright colour palette and youthful aura. This embroidered organdie evening dress was further embellished with pendant beads and sequins in Bellville Sassoon's workrooms. Jill Ritblat wore this dress for formal evening occasions.
Bibliographic references
  • de la Haye, Amy, ed. The Cutting Edge: 50 Years of British Fashion 1947-1997. V&A Publications, London, 1997, p. 79.
  • Sassoon, David and Stemp, Sinty. The Glamour of Bellville Sassoon. ACC Editions, England, 2009, p.40 and p.43 (original design sketch)
Other number
5 - Ritblat catalogue
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
T.77-1996

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdAugust 28, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O83816/candida-evening-dress-david-sassoon/
Download as: JSON