Susan Small
of Castle House, 76 Wells Street, Oxford Circus, London, W1. Telephone: Telephone: Museum 6384-5-6. Cables: "Susan Small, London"
1940s Susan Small was a traditional British ready-to-wear company founded in the early 1940s by Leslie Carr Jones and noted for their colourful printed evening dresses - often mixing contrasting elements of exotic prints on simple shapes or traditional fabrics.
1947 British Industries Fair Advert as Manufacturers of 'Exclusive Small Sizes for Day and Evening'.(Textiles Section - Earls Court, Ground Floor, Stands No. 206 and 215) [1]
1970s The label soon caught the attention of textile giant Courtaulds, who purchased the company.
1973 Maureen Baker, Susan Small's chief designer (who joined the company in 1943), made her mark on the fashion world when she was commissioned to design Princess Anne's wedding dress. An exquisite white silk princess-style gown with medieval pearl-edged Elizabethan sleeves and a high collar; the sumptuous floor sweeping gown evoked thoughts of longed-for fairytale weddings and became the defining Bridal gown of the 1970s.
1978 With the Princess's patronage, Baker went on to open her own fashion company 'Maureen Baker Designs', after the demise of Susan Small.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1947 British Industries Fair Advert 254; and p253
- [1] Topshop - Archive - Designers