| Description | The Victor Stiebel archive includes three sketch books: Sketch Book of 1960-1961, Sketch Book of 1962 and 1963, and Victor Stiebel Ground Floor Collections 1961-1963.
The books were from Stiebel's couture house at 17 Cavendish Square London W1, which opened in 1958 and closed when he became ill in 1963. The sketches are in watercolour, pen and pencil and show a full length front view, with smaller sketches of the back and other details. Each sketch measures 17.5 x 21.5 cms.
The books are sub-divided into seasons and then suits and blouses, day dresses, (Ascot) and cocktail dresses, evening dresses and finally coats, with normally two sketches per page. |
| Individual or organisational biography | Victor Stiebel (1907-1976) was born in South Africa and moved to England to study architecture at Cambridge in 1924, where he designed the décor and costumes for the Footlights Review. In 1929, after advice from Norman Hartnell, he went to train with the court dressmaker Reville & Rossiter and in 1932 opened his own business at 21 Bruton Street, Mayfair. In 1940 he closed his house and signed up for the Camouflage Corps in the army but in 1946 joined Jacqmar of Grosvenor Street as Director of Couture, before opening his own business again in Cavendish Square in 1958. His clients were drawn from the royal family and the aristocracy, but he also had an international reputation and dressed film stars like Katherine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh. He was a founder member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, serving as Chairman and Vice Chairman.
Further information about the life and work of Victor Stiebel and the role of these sketchbooks can be found in a chapter by Amy de la Haye entitled "Gilded Brocade Gowns and Impeccable Tailored Tweeds: Victor Stiebel (1907-76) a Quintessentially English Designer" in Breward, Conekin and Cox (eds) (2002) The Englishness of English Dress. Oxford: Berg. |
| Custodial History | Given to the LCF Archives by John Cavanagh |