(upbeat music)
- Hello and welcome to "Fashion through History"
brought to you by English Heritage.
I'm fashion historian Dr. Serena Dyer,
and today, I've come here to Eltham Palace in London.
We're here to focus on an innovative and exciting period
for fashion, the 1930s.
Our fashion icons for today, Stephen and Virginia Courtauld,
took out a 99-year lease for Eltham
and transformed it into this incredible art deco property.
We'll be recreating some of the couple's
most iconic looks, as well as looking
at some of the fashions
that their contemporaries would've worn.
Before that, we'll be meeting English Heritage historian
Amy Boyington to learn a little bit more
about life for the Courtaulds at Eltham in the 1930s.
So who was Stephen Courtauld?
- So Stephen was from a very wealthy,
successful textile manufacturing company.
It had been founded in 1794,
and during the Victorian period, it was so successful.
So for example, they mass produced silk and crepe,
and they even produced Queen Victoria's mourning crepe.
- Yes, we looked at that in the Victorian episode
of "Fashion through History."
So can you tell us a bit more about how he met Virginia
and how they came here to Eltham?
- So Stephen was a very keen mountaineer,
and they met in the Italian Alps.
Virginia, she was a Romanian,
and her father was a shipping merchant.
She was full of life, she was a socialite,
she loved to party, and he was a bit of the opposite.
He was an introvert, bit of an intellectual,
he loved to read books, but they just sort of
hit it off instantly, and so in 1923,
they were married in Italy.
They initially set up home in Grosvenor Square in London,
and they lived the high life, they even had a yacht.
They toured around the world,
it was called The Virginia, of course,
and then in the 1930s,
they thought you know what, we want to get something else,
so they bought, well they actually took a 99-year lease
out of Eltham Palace.
- So I think that Virginia would've needed
some very fancy looks for the parties
that they had here at Eltham, so I think our first look
should be the kind of dress that she would've worn
for those events.
So how does it feel to wear this fabulous gown, Kate?
- I feel like a million dollars.
(laughs)
No, it's really comfortable and very slinky.
- Yes, well you look wonderful,
and I think that slinkiness
is a really important factor here,
because with the fashions that have been around
in the Victorian period and the early decades
of the 20th century, it was all about structure.
You would've worn corsets, you would've worn bustles,
you would've been creating the body
over which you're wearing your gown.
But with this style, nothing is hidden.
Everything is the body underneath,
that's what's really being shown off.
So here, we have a gorgeous evening gown
which is cut on the bias, and that was very fashionable
in the 1930s, and that bias means that you're following
the stretch of the fabric, so it's really showing off
the body underneath.
So there's no way of hiding your dinner in this one.
It's also cut with these fabulous godets at the bottom,
which are these triangular pieces of fabric
inserted into the bottom of the skirt,
which create that flare,
so you get amazing movement as you walk around,
and of course, as you do the fabulous dances of the 1930s,
it really shows it off.
And to finish off this look,
Virginia would've worn a fur stole like this one.
Here you go, Kate.
So furs were incredibly popular in the 1930s,
of course fur coats and then wonderful stoles like this,
which would've been made from real fur.
So this would've been perfect
for the kind of events that Virginia hosted
here at Eltham.
Can you tell us a bit more about the social scene here?
- So initially, they had to create their party palace,
so they commissioned the budding architects
Seely and Paget to create their beautiful modern home.
They liked all kinds of styles,
so you can go from room to room
and it's like a different style each time.
For example, the entrance hall
is a Swedish-designed entrance hall,
and then you get the amazing art deco sort of style
that you see throughout the house,
which is phenomenal.
So once they created this amazing house
with all of the latest mod cons,
they decided to entertain on a lavish scale.
They hosted amazing dinners, they had flamboyant picnics
out in the gardens, and they even had royalty
to come and dine with them.
They were a very smart set and were very elegantly dressed,
always drinking champagne, cocktails,
anything you want, really.
But what I really enjoy is the fact that they had
a pet lemur, and this lemur was allowed
to sort of run around the house,
and he even had his own centrally heated living quarters.
- I'm not sure how the lemur would've felt
about Virginia's fur stole.
- True.
- And of course, it wasn't just Virginia
that had to get dressed up for these events,
it was her husband Stephen as well,
and that's what we'll look at with our next look.
And here we have Charles wearing the kind
of dashing eveningwear that Stephen Courtauld
might've worn, how does it feel, Charles?
- It feels great.
I really love the velvet.
- So Amy, can you tell us a bit more
about Stephen Courtauld?
- Because he was so wealthy, he was able to indulge
all of his passions and interests.
So for example, he was a really keen mountaineer,
and of course, that's how he met Virginia
in the Italian Alps.
He was also a keen gardener
and they transformed Eltham's gardens.
He really enjoyed giving money to good causes
or causes that he found interesting.
He was a great philanthropist, so he really had
this amazing range of interests and passions,
and this all culminated in 1958,
when he was awarded a knighthood.
- A very busy man, and of course,
that would've meant lots of evening engagements
and lots of eveningwear.
Eveningwear in the 1930s wasn't that dissimilar
to what we're familiar with today, the tuxedo,
the three-piece suit, but what Charles is modeling here
is a little bit more different.
So this is a smoking jacket.
So this is the kind of thing that you might've worn
for a more informal evening event,
the kind of things that they might've had
here at Eltham at home, or that you might've put on
once you got home from a lovely soiree in the city,
and to feel a little bit more comfortable,
to smoke some cigars.
This is a velvet smoking jacket.
You can see that it is padded and quilted,
so it's lovely and cozy, there's lots of warmth
and layers there.
There's some lovely frogging on the front
that adds some detail to the buttons,
and there's also very handily some lovely pockets
to keep your spare cigars or your lighter in.
Of course, Charles is wearing this over the top
of what would've been the rest of his evening attire,
so you can still see the white shirt,
the black wool trousers, and the bow tie.
Eveningwear for men in this period is very similar
across the social spectrum.
Middle class men would've worn similar eveningwear as well.
So the key differences come in in the quality of fabric
and in that kind of material eye,
that literacy in what is good quality fashion.
So things like the fabric of your lapels
would've really added that je ne sais quoi to the outfit.
So let's bring Kate back in.
Don't you look wonderful together?
So now that we have both Courtaulds,
why don't you try out your eveningwear
and enjoy your wonderful house here at Eltham together?
But of course, it wasn't just very wealthy people
like the Courtaulds that got to enjoy fashion in the 1930s,
so let's ask Kate back and see our final look.
So Kate, now you are wearing a house dress from the 1930s.
How does this one feel?
- Much more practical, less luxurious though.
- Yes, it's definitely quite a transformation.
So in the 1930s, we really see the rise
of mass-produced, ready-to-wear fashion.
Fashion magazines for middle and working-class women
are becoming far more widely available,
and that's really promoting the consumption
of these dresses.
So Amy, how were the Courtaulds involved
in this rise of ready-to-wear fashion?
- The Courtaulds owned a textile manufacturing company
and during the 1930s, they mass produced fabrics
such as artificial silks, and this allowed
the ordinary housewife to purchase
these fabrics that had been sort of unavailable
to them before.
- So while women like Virginia Courtauld
were wearing those beautiful silk satins,
it was the women that were buying those artificial silks,
those viscoses and rayons
that were supporting this lifestyle.
So this particular example isn't made
from an artificial silk, it's made from cotton,
but it's similarly practical.
You could do your housework,
you could do your cooking, and you'd still be able
to wash this dress at the end of the day,
again, not something you could've done
with that beautiful silk satin earlier.
It's also made from a printed fabric,
so if you got anything splashed on the dress,
it would be hidden within the print,
and you'd still look lovely when you opened the door
to the postman in the morning.
This dress also buttons down the front,
so it's very easy to get on by yourself.
We've got pockets as well.
This dress is all about practicality and comfort,
so you can keep all of those cleaning products on you
while you're moving around the house.
She might also have worn an apron over this dress
with even more pockets in it.
So you can do all of those practical things
that you need to do as a 1930s housewife,
but you can look glamorous at the same time.
As you can see, the 1930s were a period
of great social and cultural change in England,
and fashion was no exception to this.
From the glitz and glamour of the Courtaulds
to the more accessible fashions of working people,
fashion in the 1930s was diverse and evolving.
If you'd like to find out more about Eltham Palace,
then please go to the English Heritage website.