Evening Dress by Madame Clapham, Hull, c.1929
A translucent fabric called chiffon has been used to make this dress. The dress has a navy blue slip underneath to stop people from being able to see through it! Because chiffon is so light, it is the perfect fabric for the floaty frills attached to the dress. There are frills attached to the skirt and to the matching bolero, which was worn to cover up the ladyâs shoulders. This dress was made by Madame Clapham, Hullâs most famous dressmaker. Emily Clapham opened her dressmaking salon in Kingston Square, Hull, in 1887. By the 1890s she was regarded as Hullâs finest dressmaker. All of Madame Claphamâs clothes were handmade to order. The salon attracted an international clientele of rich and stylish ladies during its heyday in the 1890s and early 1900s. The First World War (1914-1918) had a dramatic effect on Madame Claphamâs business. Ladies swapped dresses for voluntary service uniforms, resulting in declining demand for Madame Claphamâs outfits. Attitudes and social codes changed after the war with women gaining the vote. Young women had more freedom for the former restrictions of dress and society. Madame Claphamâs extravagant feminine designs became less popular as young women adopted the new shorter, straighter fashions of the 1920s. The 1920s look required less material. Layers of lining, long trains and elaborate bodices were abandoned for a simpler and freer style. Although her business declined during the 1920s and 1930s, Madame Clapham was still patronised by her older pre-war clients. Sometimes their unwilling daughters were brought to her salon to be fitted for dresses too. The business became more local as many of Madame Claphamâs London clients looked to Paris for the latest fashions. Madame Claphamâs business also suffered from the growth of ready-to-wear clothing increasingly available from Hull stores such as Thornton Varley. However, she ran her salon until her death in 1952, when her niece Emily Wall took over until 1967.
