Lady Alexandra - A Couture Client
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Lady Alexandra Howard-Johnston (later Lady Dacre) was the wife of the Naval Attaché to Paris, 1948-50. She required an extensive wardrobe for the many formal dinners and state functions that she had to attend.
Lady Alexandra wore this dress at the official visit of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip to Paris in May 1948. She recalled that when she arrived at the Théâtre de l'Opéra with her husband, the Garde Nationale suddenly sprang to attention. 'I realised they had mistaken us for the Princess and Duke. That was the effect made by my splendid Fath.'
In 1971 Lady Alexandra gave some of her couture clothes to the photographer Cecil Beaton. He was assembling a large collection of fashionable garments to be given to the V&A and displayed in his exhibition Fashion: an Anthology. The V&A has kept Beaton's correspondence with designers, royalty and leading socialites of the day.
Evening dress (robe de gala)
Jacques Fath (1912-54)
Paris
1948 spring/summer
Silk satin, embroidered by Rébé with sequins and beads
Given by Lady Alexandra Dacre
Museum no. T.184&A-1974
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Evening dress (robe de gala) by Jacques Fath. Paris, 1948 spring/summer. Museum no. T.184&A-1974