Evening dress
Chanelle Ltd
Category
Costume
Date
1936 - 1938
Materials
Cotton, Net, Rayon, Velvet
Measurements
750 mm (W)340 mm (W)1300 mm (Length)
Place of origin
Bournemouth
Order this imageCollection
Killerton, Devon
NT 1366330
Caption
Enid Cooper, later Chanelle (1919–2012), began her career as a window dresser in fashionable Bournemouth, becoming manager of the business and working her way up to the position of buyer in Louis I. Michaels’s ready-to-wear empire. The first Bournemouth shop opened in 1932, opposite the Winter Gardens and theatre. Ten years later, aged 37, Chanelle was director of Maryon Fashion Group, later adding J.J. Allen group to her portfolio. A leading businesswoman and authority on fashion and retail, she opened Maryon and Chanelle Ltd shops (40 in all) in department stores owned by the group around the UK, offering off-the-peg versions of couture fashion. Chanelle was lauded in the press as a ‘fashion personality’, but also became well known as a West End theatre ‘angel’ and a racehorse owner, and even had a rose named after her. The label in this post-war winter evening dress (below, far left) reveals that the brand had also launched in Cheltenham, another upmarket leisure destination. A hint of movie glamour glimmers in the yoke and puffed sleeves, machine-embroidered with translucent iridescent sequins, contrasting with economically cut cotton velvet. Shelley Tobin
Summary
Full length black cotton velvet evening dress, flaring out to hemline from low waistline. Skirt cut on the cross. Bodice stitched to skirt at waistline, which rises to an inverted 'V' shape at centre front, cut straight across at back. Yoke and sleeves of pink cotton net machine embroidered with translucent iridescent sequins. Full, short sleeves gathered into head of shoulder and into broad cuff, made from same materials. Sleeves stiffened with gathered bands of peach rayon stitched to inner shoulder seams. Small crepe retaining straps fastened with metal press studs at shoulders. Yoke is 'V' shaped, neckline low and rounded. Fastens on left hand side with metal 'Lightening' zip. Label; Woven rayon triangle stitched to seam at right hip, 'Chanelle Ltd, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Westover Road, Bournemouth' with image of a page carrying a Chanelle hat-box.
Makers and roles
Chanelle Ltd
References
Antrobus and Slocombe 2025: Helen Antrobus and Emma Slocombe, 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the collections of the National Trust, National Trust 2025, pp. 184-185.