Australian Dress Register

Place of origin:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Owned by:

Made and worn by Barbara Cottee (nee Davis, born 29 September 1931) who donated the dress to the Darnell Collection in 2008. The Darnell Collection is a private collection of Australian and international fashion belonging to Charlotte Smith.

Worn by:

Barbara Cottee (nee Davis) in 1951 to a wedding and in 1952 for a photographic portrait.

Occasion(s):

Barbara Cottee (nee Davis) in 1951 to a friend's wedding in Sydney and in 1952 for a photographic portrait.

Place:

Worn to a friend's wedding in Sydney. Also worn for a studio portrait at La Dore Studio in Orange.

Designed by:

The dress is part of a collection of clothing made to complete the requirements for a Women's Handicraft course at East Sydney Tech. A photograph of a Jacques Fath couture dress in L’Officiel inspired the design. Barbara Cottee set out to copy the dress in the photograph as closely as possible.  With the help of a teacher, Barbara Cottee created a paper pattern in quarter scale to determine if her drafting achieved the desired design. The next step was to create the fabric. The Fath dress was made of polka dotted organza, a stiffened silk. Unable to source the same fabric, Barbara Cottee purchased a plain white organdy, stiffened cotton, and asked art students at the college to hand screen spots onto the fabric. When the fabric was cut, the full scale paper pattern was left pinned to the fabric, and then the pattern was outlined with long running stitches which formed the stitching line. With its eight –panel skirt of overlapping ‘petals’, fine pleating at the waist and fitted cross-over bodice, the dress was complicated to make and took Barbara Cottee a term to complete.

The dress is finely made and characteristic of feminine fashions that were introduced by post-war Paris couturiers, the most influential being Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Jacques Fath. The new fashions featured rounded shoulder lines, a cinched waist and a fitted bodice, and an exceptionally full skirt or pencil-slim skirt made with an abundance of luxurious fabric. After the austere fashions worn during the war, the new Parisian fashions were considered very glamorous and alluring and were widely copied throughout the world. In Australia, Paris couture provided a standard to which local makers could aspire and emulate.

Although the dress was worn to a friend’s wedding Barbara Cottee recalls that she felt very self-conscious in it as the dress was 'too extravagant and glamorous for a Sydney wedding' .  She also recalls the fabric crushing easily and that the dress was difficult to iron. The following year, the dress was worn for a studio portrait in Orange. On both occasions, the dress was worn with a black suede belt trimmed with a red silk rose purchased from a millinery shop and pair of black suede I. Miller shoes made in England.

Made by:

Barbara Cottee (nee Davis) grew up on a property called “Laanecoorie” in Cargo in central NSW where the family farmed sheep and wheat. Barbara attended the local school and boarded at MLC, Burwood in Sydney. In her final year at school Barbara studied dressmaking and after she returned to the family property she enrolled in a technical course to learn drafting and pattern making in nearby Canowindra. With encouragement from a teacher, Barbara applied and won a scholarship to study at East Sydney Technical College. Barbara’s father supported his daughter’s study and move to Sydney by paying her living expenses, the purchase of fabrics for dressmaking, a small electric Singer sewing machine, and a subscription to L’Officiel.

Barbara’s scholarship covered her 3 years of tuition from 1949 to 1951 in the Women’s Handicraft Department of East Sydney Technical College. Set up in 1909, first in Ultimo in the Sydney Technical College and then in the old Darlinghurst goal in 1922, later renamed East Sydney Technical College, the Handicraft Department strove to prepare women for vocations as wage earners in teaching and dressmaking as well as housewives. In the post war period, the department had record enrolments and a network of affiliations with technical courses throughout rural NSW. Its curriculum was geared towards custom dressmaking and meticulous technical skill. Barbara recalls an intensive 3 years of tuition under the directorship of Ms E L G Gough, the author of the text book Principles of Garment Cutting (Angus and Robertson 1947). The course covered millinery, tailoring, the drafting and making of dressmaking patterns, the history of costumes, and the making of children’s clothes and lingerie.

Barbara returned to the country after graduation, taught dressmaking and drafting in Orange and Cudal, before marrying Keith Cottee, a Royal Australian Air Force pilate and later Trans-Australia Airlines pilot in 1952. She taught in Newcastle and briefly at East Sydney Tech and continued to sew throughout her life. Barbara made all her 5 children’s clothes as well as her own.  She recalls, “ I never bought a dress until about 1985…”

Made for:

The dress was made to complete the requirements of a 3-year dressmaking course at East Sydney Technical College.