Evening dress

This ball gown was made for Kathleen Pether in Singapore, where she lived from 1946 to 1957.

Born in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, Kathleen had spent much of her early life living in East Asia. During the Depression, Kathleen and her mother joined her father in Shanghai, where he had found work. In the 'Paris of the East', the young Kathleen developed a taste for tailor made clothes and a busy social life. In 1940, at the age of 19, she married Harold Pether, a manager at C.C. Wakefield & Co  (Castrol Oil) in Shanghai. The couple soon moved to Singapore to get away from the advancing Japanese army. Singapore, however, did not turn out to be the answer. Harold was interned in Changi Prison, and Kathleen returned to New Zealand with her new baby. After several years of seperation, the couple were reunited in 1946, and resettled in Singapore, where Harold took on the role as General Manager of South East Asia Castrol. They lived in Singapore until 1957, when they returned to New Zealand.

While in Singapore, the couple 'led a happy and social life for a decade - sports clubs, New Year fancy dress parties, balls and business dinners, welcoming and hosting important visitors', along with the 'drama of Malaysian independence riots and curfews'. Kathleen made many of her own gowns, but also engaged the skills of Singaporean tailors. This dress, which typifies the style of the 1950s, demonstrates the way in which Singaporean tailors adapted their skills to western modes of dress.