| James Laver | |
|---|---|
James Laver (around 1950) |
|
| Born | March 14, 1899 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 6 March 1975 (aged 75) Blackheath, London |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse(s) | Veronica Turleigh |
James Laver CBE FRSA (1899–1975) was an author, art historian, and museum curator who acted as Keeper of Prints, Drawings and Paintings for the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1938 and 1959. He was also an important and pioneering fashion historian described as "the man in England who made the study of costume respectable".[1]
Contents |
James Laver was born in Liverpool, England, on 14 March 1899, the second child and only son of Arthur James Laver, a maritime printer and stationer, and his wife Florence Mary née Barker. They were strict Congregationalists who brought up their children in a puritanical manner.[2][3] Laver was educated at the Liverpool Institute. His academic progress was put on hold by the First World War, in which he served as a second lieutenant. In 1919 he resumed his residency at New College, Oxford, where in 1921 he earned a BA degree second class in modern history, and in 1922, a B.Litt in theology for a thesis on John Wesley. His college fees and travel expenses were subsidized by the wealthy shipping magnate, Lawrence Holt.[3] Whilst at Oxford, he actively contributed to the student magazine Isis and won the 1921 Newdigate Prize for his poem on Cervantes.[2]
In 1922, Laver entered the Department of Engraving, Illustration, Design and Painting at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He arrived shortly before the International Theatre Exhibition was transferred to the V&A from Amsterdam and was shown as part of his department. It showcased work by all the leading European designers of the time, and the Museum purchased several designs and models, which became the basis of the Museum's Theatre Collection. Laver was put in charge of this collection. Stage design became one of his passions, possibly in reaction against his upbringing.[2] In 1938 he succeeded Martin Hardie as Keeper of the department, a post he held until his retirement in 1958. Despite his significant contributions to object-centred dress history, he was never Keeper of Textiles for the Museum, or part of the Textiles section.[4]
Laver is perhaps best remembered for his contributions to the field of fashion history, and his books on the subject are minor classics of their field.[5] His combination of the roles of art historian and theorist made him a new type of dress historian.[5] His interest emerged through a desire to date images accurately through the clothing depicted within.[5] Laver defined the relationships between dress design and other applied arts, and discussed the influence of economic and social factors upon the development of fashionable taste.[2] In 1962, Laver received a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in recognition of his work in the field of fashion history.
In 1937 Laver, with Pearl Binder, co-presented the first television programme to be dedicated to fashion history.[4] Clothes-Line, a six-part series, was so successful that in 1938, Laver and Binder reunited to present a revised re-tread (in three parts) of the programme, this time called Clothes Through The Centuries.
Laver followed the theories of Thorstein Veblen and John Flügel, using them to develop his favourite theories. These were:
In the 1980s and 1990s, feminist fashion historians such as Elizabeth Wilson and Amanda Vickery found these problematic, arguing that Laver and C. Willett Cunnington's views trivialised women's behaviour, role within the family, and their contributions to society and culture.[4]
Laver's Law was an attempt to compress the complex cycle of fashion change and the general attitude towards any certain style or period into a simple timeline. It first appeared in Taste and Fashion (1937)[6]:
| Indecent | 10 years before its time |
|---|---|
| Shameless | 5 years before its time |
| Outré (Daring) | 1 year before its time |
| Smart | 'Current Fashion' |
| Dowdy | 1 year after its time |
| Hideous | 10 years after its time |
| Ridiculous | 20 years after its time |
| Amusing | 30 years after its time |
| Quaint | 50 years after its time |
| Charming | 70 years after its time |
| Romantic | 100 years after its time |
| Beautiful | 150 years after its time |
To supplement his pay whilst at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Laver dedicated his free time to writing magazine articles, book reviews, play translations, dramatic criticism and light verse. One of the plays he translated was Klabund's The Circle of Chalk from the original German.[2] His 1927 poem, A Stitch In Time, a pastiche of Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock set in modern times, successfully captured public attention, and led to Laver's popularity as a fashionable party guest.[3] A sequel in 1929 followed, Love's Progress, the two poems being published together as Ladies' Mistakes in 1933.[2]
Laver married the Irish actress Veronica Turleigh (1903–1971) in 1928. They had two children, a son and a daughter. They first lived in a flat in Piccadilly, London, which proved convenient for their theatrical friends, and later moved to Chelsea.[3]
In 1932 he published a novel, Nymph Errant, about a girl returning to her finishing school, who went astray along the way and ended up in a Turkish harem.[3] It was an instant bestseller and in 1933, Charles B. Cochran turned it into a musical featuring songs by Cole Porter and Gertrude Lawrence as the leading lady.[2][3]
Laver felt as if he was leading a double life. He said:
Laver continued to write fiction and work for the theatre and film on a less ambitious scale, but did not attempt becoming a full-time writer. His work on films included acting as historical advisor for The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) and The Amateur Gentleman (1936), and he co-wrote the screenplay for Warning To Wantons (1948).
It was typical of Laver that he might decide to take an interest in random subjects. During the Second World War, he determined to read all the books on occultism in the London Library. As a result, he became an expert in the field, writing a book on the prophet Nostradamus.[2]
Between 1926 and 1938 Laver was the Director of Art Classes at the Working Men's College, Camden Town.[7] He ran a course on English literature and also re-organised the art class, introducing living models.[3]
Laver died on the 3rd June 1975 following a fire at his Blackheath home.