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Fashion Design

4 December 1939 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Kathleen (Katrina) Sheffield studied at Southend Art School and later at the Katinka School of Dressmaking in London. It was during her studies at the Katinka School in the late 1930s and early 1940s that she made this design as well as a number of others now in the V&A’s collection (E.555-2015-E.614-2015). She subsequently worked for a short time as a fashion designer at Lachasse Fashion House in London which was headed by Hardy Amies and Digby Morton. According to Sheffield’s recollections, Amies and Morton were happy to let her design but some of the cutting-room staff regarded her as an upstart and often changed her designs.

In 1941 she was called up to serve in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war ended she did not return to fashion, as her husband’s job in the Diplomatic Service meant they had to travel around the world. While in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s she met Phyllis Ross, a Canadian artist and wife of a Counsellor in the Canadian Embassy, who ran art classes. This encouraged her to begin painting again. Once she and her husband returned from postings abroad, they lived in London and subsequently Cambridge where she continued to paint and exhibited regularly. She took part in the Open Studio Scheme in Cambridge until she was well into her eighties.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil, watercolour and ink on paper
Brief description
Fashion design for a 'Swiss Peasant' fancy dress costume by Kathleen (Katrina) Sheffield, pencil, watercolour and ink on paper, London, 4th December 1939
Physical description
A drawing of a woman in a 'Swiss Peasant' fancy dress costume consisting of: a white shirt with flower detailing at the neck; a red corset-like waistcoat; a rustic orange floor-length skirt with blue, yellow, green and red flower detailing along the bottom of the skirt; and a hat with flower detailing along the brim and a blue ribbon.
Dimensions
  • Height: 29cm
  • Width: 22.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '4 DECEMBER 1939.' (Inscribed in ink; top right corner)
  • 'SWISS PEASANT / FANCY DRESS / K F SHEFFIELD.' (Inscribed in ink; bottom left corner)
Credit line
Given by P. C. Sennitt
Subjects depicted
Summary
Kathleen (Katrina) Sheffield studied at Southend Art School and later at the Katinka School of Dressmaking in London. It was during her studies at the Katinka School in the late 1930s and early 1940s that she made this design as well as a number of others now in the V&A’s collection (E.555-2015-E.614-2015). She subsequently worked for a short time as a fashion designer at Lachasse Fashion House in London which was headed by Hardy Amies and Digby Morton. According to Sheffield’s recollections, Amies and Morton were happy to let her design but some of the cutting-room staff regarded her as an upstart and often changed her designs.

In 1941 she was called up to serve in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war ended she did not return to fashion, as her husband’s job in the Diplomatic Service meant they had to travel around the world. While in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s she met Phyllis Ross, a Canadian artist and wife of a Counsellor in the Canadian Embassy, who ran art classes. This encouraged her to begin painting again. Once she and her husband returned from postings abroad, they lived in London and subsequently Cambridge where she continued to paint and exhibited regularly. She took part in the Open Studio Scheme in Cambridge until she was well into her eighties.
Collection
Accession number
E.580-2015

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Record createdMarch 7, 2013
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