John Cavanagh (designer)

John Cavanagh was a successful London-based couturier of the 1950s and 1960s.

Contents

Early life

John Bryan Cavanagh was born in Mayo Ireland in 1914.

In 1932 Cavanagh was employed as a secretary for the couturier Edward Molyneux, first in London, and then in Paris.[1] Molyneux insisted that Cavanagh learn how to draw before employing him.[2] Through trial and error, Cavanagh rose to become supervisor of Molyneux's London branch, before becoming his personal assistant in Paris, where he learned how the haute couture business worked.[2] In 1940, after war broke out, Cavanagh left Molyneux to join the British Army Intelligence Corps, where he was responsible for military intelligence and security.[1] He was demobbed in 1946, and the following year became a design assistant for Pierre Balmain, for whom he worked until 1952.[1]

House of John Cavanagh

In 1952, Cavanagh launched his eponymous fashion house, John Cavanagh, at 26 Curzon Street, London. He made his name with his "Coronation" collection for Spring-Summer 1953, marking the coronation of Elizabeth II.[3] It consisted of dresses made up in sumptuous fabrics designed by Oliver Messel for the Sekers fabric mills.[3] Although he had only been in business for a year, members of the English aristocracy ordered his dresses to wear for the Coronation celebrations, such as the gold brocade gown worn by Lady Cornwallis (née Esme d'Beaumont (1901–1969)), wife of Baron Cornwallis.[4]

Cavanagh was renowned for his elegant tailoring, sense of colour and sense of chic, as well as the high standard and quality of his designs.[3][5] Many of his staff had formerly worked for couturiers such as Nina Ricci, Lucile, and Molyneux.[3] His personal assistant from 1961–1966, Lindsay Evans Robertson, described his work as being:

"...Paris in London. There was a lightness of touch, a feminine delicacy, a fragility unlike the work of any of the other London couturiers."[3]

Cavanagh maintained a purity of line and form in all his designs.[3] He designed clothes appropriate to the lifestyles of his predominantly British and American clientele, such as cocktail and evening dresses, and tailored suits.[2] He aimed for his clothes to look equally good wherever they were worn, be it in London, Paris or New York.[2] He also made wedding dresses, including the Royal wedding dress for Katharine Worsley when she married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent on 8 June 1961 at York Minster.[5]

Cavanagh retired and closed his establishment in 1974. He died in 2003.

References

  1. ^ a b c Interactive timeline for couture houses & designers during 1947-57 at the Victoria & Albert Museum website
  2. ^ a b c d de la Haye, Amy (editor) (1996). "Designer Interviews". The Cutting Edge: 50 Years of British Fashion 1947-1997. V&A. pp. 188–200. ISBN 1851771948. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f de la Haye, Amy, for Wilcox, Claire (editor) (2008). "John Cavanagh". The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-57. V&A. pp. 110. ISBN 9781851775217. 
  4. ^ 1953 evening dress from John Cavanagh's "Coronation" collection in the image database of the Victoria & Albert Museum
  5. ^ a b Glenville, Tony; Anderson, Fiona; and Damon, Emma, for de la Haye, Amy (editor) (1996). "Selected Glossary of British Designers 1947-1997". The Cutting Edge: 50 Years of British Fashion 1947-1997. V&A. pp. 202. ISBN 1851771948. 

External links