item details
Mary Ruddock; manufacturer; 1932 / 1940; New Zealand
Overview
These designers were drawn by Anne Blakiston when she was in the employ of Mary Ruddock of Mary Ruddock Ltd, a company specialising in high quality and often bespoke children's clothing from 1931 to 1963.A
It comprises a page of nine (3 rows of 3) hand-drawn, annotated dress designs for girls aged around 8 to 10. There is also a small separate piece of paper pasted above the images that feature two additional dresses. The designs are all for summer short sleeved dresses, but feature different fabrics, including plain, stripped, floral and plaid, collars and design details such as pockets, pin tucks or ruffles. Some of the designs have ticks and crosses next to them in pencil and annotations including the names of some of the girls that the dresses were intended for such as 'Robyn Tonks'.
Anne Blakiston studied art at Wellington Polytechnic around 1930, under Christopher Perkins. Her ambition was to be a dress designer and after she left art school she looked for work, without a great deal of success at first as the Great Depression had just begun. After being told by at least one firm that if she was trained for office work they would take her on and let her do some design work as well, Anne finally secured work as a designer at Mary Ruddock’s, somewhere between 1932 and the start of the Second World War, when she she joined the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). Following marriage and children, and a move to Fiji for 12 years from 1948 to 1960, she did not undertake further professional design work, but continued to make the family high quality garments and costumes for children's shows.