Bolero

From utility to glamour

This cocktail dress with matching bolero jacket was designed by Victor Stiebel (1907-1976), who designed garments for Britain's Utility clothing scheme during the Second World War. This cocktail dress, with its full skirt, reflects a return to luxury in the post-war period and London's interpretation of  'The New Look'. The dress, which drapes beautifully, is made from superfine worsted wool fabric in a rich raspberry colour. The bodice features a crossover effect, with the fabric gathered diagonally across one bust and then the other. Black wool guipare lace adorns the bust area. An extremely full skirt falls from beneath the gathered bodice section.

The dress was originally strapless. The donor, however, Mary Annette Hay (née Burgess) applied ribbon strapes  but now features applied ribbon straps, added by the donor, Mary-Annette Hay. The dress is plain except for the addition of heavy and richly ornamented black wool guipure lace which has been applied to the bust area.

Promoting British design and fabrics

Stiebel was a member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers.  Founded in 1942, the Society aimed to promote London as a fashion centre, and increase the prestige of British fashions and fabrics in national and international markets. To this end, the Society frequently worked with the International Wool Secretariat (IWS), which was established in1937 by wool growers in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, to promote wool. The ensemble was sent to the New Zealand Wool Board by the IWS to be used in local wool promotions.

Mary Annette Burgess, who was the Wool Board's Promotions Officer from 1948 to 1956, used this cocktail dress in a range of stage shows designed to ‘educate, promote and elevate wool as the greatest of fibres’.