Lachasse

Lachasse was a British couture firm operating from 1928 until 2006, making it one of the longest surviving high fashion houses in London.[1][2]

Part of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc), it is notable for being a major training ground for British couturiers, numbering Digby Morton, Hardy Amies, and Michael Donnellan among its chief designers.[3][4] Later it would train further designers, with names such as Stephen Jones and John Galliano passing through the couture house as trainees on their way to successful solo careers.[5][6]

Hardy Amies years

After five years, Morton set up his own label and he was succeeded at Lachasse by Hardy Amies, then a would-be designer and former Avery weighing machine salesman who had got the job of managing the store simply because a letter he wrote describing a dress came to the attention of Shingleton.[11] Another telling of this story by Colin McDowell is that the letter Amies wrote was to his aunt – a vendeuse at a court dressmaker – and was describing the dress worn by Shingleton's wife at a dinner party Amies had attended.[12] Amies' early pieces showed his lack of experience; later he would describe some of them as hideous and extravagant.[11] In 1937, however, his tweed suit called 'Panic' scored a huge hit. Cecil Beaton photographed the suit for Vogue; it had padded hips, a nipped in waist (Amies had introduced corsets to the collection) and was made in green Linton tweed with a cerise pink check.[13][11]

Post-war designs

In 1941, Michael Donnellan was named head of operations at Lachasse – while on wartime service – and became its chief designer after his return.[14] Donnellan – more usually known as Michael or Michael of Carlos place – was an established name and his designs for Lachasse bore the label 'Michael of Lachasse'. Later he would be described as the Balenciaga of London for his focus on simplicity of form and defined tailoring.[9] Such was his stature, and that of Lachasse during this era, that the house was included in a 1953 feature about London's "big 10" designers in a feature in Life prior to the coronation of Elizabeth II.[15] This would be one of his last assignments for Lachasse as in 1953 he set up on his own, taking over the couture house of Peter Russell.[16]

At Lachasse, the next head of design was Owen, who continued the tradition of fine tailoring that was a hallmark of the label, as seen in a red suit that now forms part of the V&A archive.[17][3] Owen was described by The Guardian in 1964 as: "a titled Irishman who is sheltering under the pseudonym of Owen". Almost a decade earlier, The Times revealed that Owen was the "Marquess McSweney".[18][19] Also among the company's design team during this era was Clive Evans – sometimes known simply as Clive – who would go on to become one of the hottest designers of the Swinging London scene.[2][20]

Export drives

In common with other London couturiers, Lachasse participated in a variety of export drives – especially for the American market.[4] Its tailored suits had some success internationally, especially after the Wall Street crash, when many American buyers looked to London rather than Paris for fashions because of its lower prices.[4] In 1936, The Times reported a small fashion show held in New York to mark the arrival of the Queen Mary, at which Lachasse showed Scottish tweeds. Its new blue and red tweed was described as one of the "novelties".[21] In 1951, The Guardian reporting from the IncSoc autumn shows said that Lachasse had been: "wildly, and rightly, complimented by the American buyers". That same season, its chenille coat drew applause from the buyers at the Venice fashion show.[22]

With increased international focus on London fashion during coronation year, The Times reported on Michael of Lachasse's new lines, describing his "masher" (cutaway) jacket and narrow skirt inspired by Edwardian fashions as the "ace of trumps".

New ownership

In 1965, Peter Lewis-Crown, who had joined as an apprentice in 1948, became director of Lachasse. Subsequently, he took on ownership of the couture house and was also responsible for design.[4] While this was an era when most of the London couture houses were struggling – with the explosion of a new crop of London designers and the rise of ready-to-wear – Lachasse retained a loyal clientele. The Times said, in 1966: "Lachasse's clothes are entirely undatable, and in that must lie the secret of his success with an obviously older clientele. Skirts are generally straight, often with kick pleats and firmly cover the knee".[25] A critique of the London couture houses in 1967 – in which the author contrasted their work with that of designers such as Mary Quant and Jean Muir – noted: "Lachasse's collection was so far removed from the current fashion idiom to seem almost a museum piece. His clothes, built to the standards of elegance, taste and fit of years gone by, are obviously designed for the older woman who remembers and loves straight cut skirts, low, square necklines, draped bodices, hip bows and cuffed, bracelet-length sleeves".[26]

Lachasse continued to restrict itself to couture until 1981, when it opened a small boutique at its Thurloe Place, Kensington premises selling ready-to-wear.[4] Couture, however, was still its main business and in 1990, Liz Smith writing in The Times described it as one of the go-to places in London for bespoke clothing: "Peter Lewis-Crown today continues the house tradition for natty tailoring (a suit costs around £1,000) that looks little changed from the days when Princess Marina and the late Countess Mountbatten were customers".[7]

Later designers

Lachasse continued to provide a training ground for London's young designers. Both milliner Stephen Jones and future Givenchy and Dior head designer John Galliano spent time training there.[5][6] An article in Vogue by fashion journalist Hamish Bowles, who had himself served an internship at Lachasse in the 1980s, described fashion shows featuring cocktail dresses and Derby day suits shown to a clientele comprising ladies in waiting to the Queen and "Mayfair matriarchs", adding: "It was quaint, it was heaven, it was an insight into a world that seemed long vanished even then".[6][27]

Legacy

Lachasse clothing is held in the archives of the V&A and the Fashion Museum, Bath

References

Michael; James Victoria and Albert Museum, retrieved 27 May 2015^

Lachasse Ltd, Costume and Fashion Designers apr.ac.uk, Artists' Papers Register, retrieved 27 May 2015^

Gavin Waddell. How Fashion Works: Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Mass Production Blackwell Science, 2004, retrieved 9 August 2014^

Catherine Woram. Lachasse fashionencyclopedia.com, Fashion Encyclopedia, retrieved 21 August 2014^

Jones, Stephen, A Personal View, for Hats: An Anthology V&A Publishing, 2009^

Fashion Flashback Vogue, 3 April 2009, retrieved 18 August 2014^

Liz Smith. Applying Pure Couture The Times, 6 February 1990^

Catherine Woram. Morton, Digby fashionencyclopedia.com, Fashion Encyclopedia, retrieved 6 August 2014^

Alison Adburgham. London Fashion Week The Guardian, 26 January 1963^

Maggie Armstrong. Tailor's Tale: Fashion's forgotten man Independent IE, 10 May 2014, retrieved 6 August 2014^

Sir Hardy Amies The Daily Telegraph, 6 March 2003, retrieved 27 May 2015^

Colin McDowell. Sir Hardy Amies The Guardian, 6 March 2003^

Sally Brampton. Interview: A Snob and Proud of it The Independent, 20 June 1999, retrieved 27 May 2015^

Obituaries. Mr Michael Donnellan The Times, 12 January 1985^

Milton Greene, staff writer. Britain dresses up for the Queen Life, 30 March 1953^

staff. Top-flight designer coming to Australia The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 1953, retrieved 13 August 2014^

Skirt suit and hat Victoria and Albert Museum, retrieved 27 May 2015^

Alison Adburgham. The London Collections The Guardian, 23 January 1964^

Striking Effect of Simple Ensembles The Times, 25 July 1956^

Study in dress contrasts The Times, 23 January 1965^

English Fashion Show in America The Times, 25 May 1936^

Alison Adburgham. London Lines for a Day The Observer, 9 September 1951^

Clothes and the woman in coronation year: fashion trends likely to favour British elegance The Times, 1 January 1953^

British Fashions in Switzerland The Times, 16 February 1953^

London shows: are we too understated? The Times, 20 July 1966^

Fashion Extra The Times, 20 January 1967^

Mr Bowles pays D'NA a visit dnariyadh.com, DNA, retrieved 30 May 2015^

Chris Curry. Miss Virginia doll always dazzled with her fashions and accessories The Virginian Pilot, 25 November 2007, retrieved 30 May 2015^

The Golden Age of Couture Victoria and Albert Museum, retrieved 30 May 2015^

The Golden Age of Couture The Wall Street Journal, 16 June 2010, retrieved 30 May 2015^

type	Private company
traded as	Lachasse
foundation	London, England (1928)
founder	Fred Shingleton
location city	London
location country	England
key people	Digby Morton, Hardy Amies, Michael Donnellan, Owen, Peter Lewis-Crown
industry	Fashion
products	Couture, ready-to-wear (from 1981)
dissolved	2006

Early history of the brand