Matilda Etches

Matilda Etches
Born Muriel Matilda Etches
1898
Rotherham, Yorkshire, England
Died 1974 (aged 75–76)
Nationality British
Occupation fashion designer and couturier, and a film and theatre costume designer
Spouse(s) Robert Bamford
Paul Homan
Children Patricia Bamford
Relatives Robin Jacques (son-in-law)

Muriel Matilda Etches (1898–1974) was a British fashion designer and couturier, and a film and theatre costume designer.

Early life

Etches was born in Rotherham, Yorkshire.[1] She was the daughter of Charles Thomas Watkins Etches (1874–1964) and Agnes Helena Etches (nee Woollen). Her father was a captain in The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during World War I.[2]

Career

Etches started a dressmaking business in 1934, but financial problems led to it being dissolved the following year. She started a new business in the late 1930s, and had "widespread fame" in the 1940s.[1] According to a feature in Vogue, "Her clothes philosophy is for undating simplicity, for an elegance which relies on cut rather than trimming and above all for comfort: this last, an unusual and very welcome viewpoint."[1] Her clients included the actress Vivien Leigh,[1] Margot Fonteyn, Glynis Johns, Constance Collier, Christine Norden, Paulette Goddard, and Valerie Hobson.[3]

Etches was also a costume designer for theatre and film, and worked with theatre designer Sophie Fedorovitch,[1] and extensively with Cecil Beaton.[3] According to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), "Matilda Etches is now almost entirely forgotten except as a theatre, ballet and opera costume-maker. However, she was an extremely talented couturier, whose fashionable clothes were innovative and very carefully made."[4]

Personal life

In 1919, Etches married the engineer Robert Bamford, who founded a company that became Aston Martin.[1] They had a daughter, Patricia Bamford, who married the illustrator Robin Jacques.[5][6]

In 1950, she married the American economist and economics advisor, Paul Homan.[1]

She spent her later life in Brighton.[1] After her death, Cecil Beaton wrote an obituary in her honour.[1]

Legacy

Two of her creations are in the permanent collection of the V&A, her 1948 evening dress of printed cotton, "an haute-couture interpretation of the wrapped garments traditionally worn by West African women",[4] and a 1949 evening cape.[7] In 1969, Etches donated selected items, and this dress and cape were considered by senior V&A officials to be key acquisitions, and the first modern fashion items to be so honoured.[7]

Filmography as costume designer

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Unmaking Things 2013–14 – Matilda Etches: A re-discovery of a forgotten couturier". unmakingthings.rca.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Supplement to The London Gazette" (PDF). The London Gazette. 17 January 1916. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 Ray Diffen (27 September 2011). Ray Diffen Stage Clothes. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-1-4653-5673-4.
  4. 1 2 "West African – Etches, Matilda – V&A Search the Collections". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Obituary: Robin Jacques". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "Obituaries: Robin Jacques". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Butterfly – Etches, Matilda – V&A Search the Collections". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Matilda Etches". bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Constantine Santas; James M. Wilson; Maria Colavito; Djoymi Baker (21 March 2014). The Encyclopedia of Epic Films. Scarecrow Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-8108-8248-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.