| Description | 110 coats, dresses, suits, blouses, underwear, belts, hats and gloves and a range of dress and knitting patterns and ephemeral material belonging to Mrs Cecile Korner. Also included are paper patterns. There is a detailed description of each garment and photograph of front and back. A listing of her paper patterns and knitting patterns is available. Also includes display boards used in the exhibition "The Englishness of English Dress" (2000), a folder of photographs of the garments, a collection catalogue on CD and an interview with Anthony and Peter Korner (22 October 1999) on CD and audio cassette. |
| Individual or organisational biography | Mrs Cecile Korner was born in Germany in 1911. She died in London in 1993.
In the early part of her life she worked as a secretary for a chemicals factory in Berlin. Both she and her Jewish fiancé, Mr Eric Korner (born in Austria in 1893) 'fled' to England because as a Catholic she had been warned by the authorities to end their association. They were married in November 1935 in a London registry office. During the Second World War, Mr and Mrs Korner and their two young children moved from London to the relative peace of Bath.
However, their status as 'enemy aliens' required a return to the capital, away from the military bases in the West Country. However, the Korners considered blitz-torn London unsafe for their children so they sent them to America to live with relatives where they remained for the duration of the war. During this period Mrs Korner served in the Women's Voluntary Service and was granted British citizenship soon after the end of hostilities. Mrs Korner did not do any paid work after the Second World War but continued voluntary work in a hospital canteen. Like many women of her class and generation her primary 'role' was to manage the home and this she did with great rigour.
Although she possessed sewing skills she made very few of her own clothes after the war, but did continue with embroidery, which was one of her favourite pastimes. She had an intimate circle of friends, one of whom was Madge Garland, who had been an editor of British Vogue magazine and was instrumental in setting up the fashion course at the Royal College of Art. Mr Korner realised the social importance of having a good London address and the family based themselves in South Kensington. They also owned a house in the country, on the border of Surrey and Sussex where they would spend weekends. The Korners travelled extensively due to Mr Korner's occupation as an international Banker.
Mrs Korner accompanied her husband on many of his trips to the World Bank Conferences to Tokyo and Washington, as well as to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Greece where the bank had clients. Due to these foreign visits and her attendance at social events connected to her husband's job, Mrs Korner's wardrobe included many formal dresses and a wide selection of evening wear. Following the death of Mr Korner in 1980, Mrs Korner attended fewer formal and social functions. However her dress style remained as it had during her married life and in remembrance of those years she continued to change for dinner every evening.
Prominent designers featured in this collection include: Hardy Amies, Victor Stiebel and Norman Hartnell. |
| Custodial History | Collection donated to the London College of Fashion in 1999 after Mrs Korner's death in 1993. The Archive holds an interview with Anthony and Peter Korner (22/10/99) about Cecile Korner's style, 22 Oct 1999. The collection was initially offered to the V&A Museum but as they were only interested in a few items and the family wanted to keep the collection together it was offered to LCF. |