Show us your Horrockses dresses!

[MissHannah]

I don't own any but I am a fan and, as an exhibition and book about them are just launching here, the prices for them are about to go stratospheric! So please, show us your Horrockses. Here are a few I found with a google search.

 

[Drappa]

Oh fun! I only have two, but I looove them. The prices for them here are already crazy, especially for the earlier ones.
Here's one I got cheaply because the seller wasn't aware of what she had I think and didn't advertise it as one.

The other one:

These are the seller's pictures- I can't work out how to post photos form my own computer or find info on it.

Managed to figure out the photo thing! Sorry about the picture, hubby took it and it's not a full body shot...

 

[MissHannah]

The image needs to be online to post it. Right click on it and select 'copy link location' then come back to your post here and click on the little square image of a mountain with the sun behind it and paste the link into the box that opens. That sounds more complex than it actually is!

EDIT: Well done!! And ace dress too

 

[Drappa]

I think I am being really stupid, but if the photos are on my computer or camera, how do I get them online? I have one of me in the polka dot dress on ym desktop but can't find the online link.
And my avatar is Horrockses as well as far as I know

 

[MissHannah]

I'm seeing your photos fine and I bid on that second dress of yours too! It is fabulous - I'm very jealous!

If you want to put your pics online you need a flickr or photobucket account - or something similar.

 

[Drappa]

Oh ok, thanks for all the info. I love those two dresses and can't believe I didn't know about Horrockses until a few months ago. Sorry to have outbid you though.

Just found this file:

http://www.cleo.net.uk/followtheyarn/files/dresses.pdf

 

[MissHannah]

I wonder if that exhibition was the basis for the one the Fashion and Textile Museum are doing now. And don't apologise for outbidding - you won fair and square I'd love to see pics of you in it though.

 

[Drappa]

Yes, maybe it was. As soon as I get a Flickr account I will post one. I have never done my hair vintage yet, but I do wear it with a huge petticoat

I think I'll ask for that book for Christmas, it looks fabulous. Apparently there was a slimmer version of that book out before (possibly a pamphlet) I read somewhere, but can't recall where.

 

[MissHannah]

I ordered the V&A Horrockses book today even though I really can't afford it until payday - but I just couldn't wait! I've been collecting Horrockses ads in old magazines to use with an article we're putting in the magazine I design and I've got such an itch to buy an actual dress now.

Here's another one in the V&A collection:

 

[epr25]

I"ve never heard of this brand. Why do they command such high prices?

 

[MissHannah]

Because they're awesome! lol

The reason you haven't heard of them is because they are a British brand - very famous here and worn by the queen in the 50s.

 

[epr25]

Ok that makes sense. They are wonderful dresses. Every detail looks fantastic.

 

[sixsexsix]

I don't own any but I am a fan and, as an exhibition and book about them are just launching here, the prices for them are about to go stratospheric! So please, show us your Horrockses. Here are a few I found with a google search.

I have the pattern for this dress, someone posted in online last year I think?

edit: here is the pattern: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/create.php

 

[MissHannah]

I do love a dress with big patch pockets. That one is actually a reproduction being made by the V&A. They are selling them, made to order (but not to measure), for £95.

http://www.vandashop.com/section.php?xSec=374&navlock=1

 

[palespider]

they are all so cute! Hope to see more

 

[Kate O Potato]

Drappa, I was bidding on that second dress!

I have been lusting after a Horrockses for ages, and still haven't found one I love in my size. I loved the V&A repro when I saw it on their website, but they angered me by not ordering one for me after I made a special trip from Sheffield to London in order to get one (they weren't selling them on the website at the time). However, when I saw them up close, the quality isn't amazing on the repro nor does the pattern sit well where the panels are stitched together. And the colour in between the floral bits is turquoise rather than brown. It's alright, but I definitely wouldn't pay £95 for it.

 

[MissHannah]

Haha! Sounds like half the British contingency of the FL were bidding on that dress then!

I was very dubious about the V&A reproduction without having seen it and you have confirmed all my doubts about it Kate. The fact that they don't even specify measurements for the sizes is really dodgy too - who's going to buy a dress on special order over the internet without any indication of the dimensions of the damn thing?!

 

[Miss Tuppence]

Because they're awesome! lol

The reason you haven't heard of them is because they are a British brand - very famous here and worn by the queen in the 50s.

No luck on the Horrockses dress front yet but I was fortunate in getting the book as a gift for my 21st …..
They are truly wonderful dresses/ outfits and gorgeous fabric designs and indeed were worn by our Queen and both my Grannies…… just a shame they never kept them!

I was given one dress on loan (Unfortunately) for I display I did and was a special print they produced for the coronation- It’s like the swatch in the book but in blue.

as soon as I find one I'll post it!

 

[Drappa]

Ha ha, now I know who brought the price up!
If it makes you feel better, there were some things that needed to be fixed on the dress and it is only knee-length on me (I'm 5'6") and not much hem to be let out. Having said that I still love it.

I just looked at the repros, and for £95 you could definitely get a a real Horrockses, and one that most likely nobody else would have nowadays. They often have cotton fabric by Horrockses on Ebay, I have sometimes thought that those could surely be made into a dress.

And I am not British so don't flame me, but I can't actually imagine the Queen to ever have looked that stylish or wear that much print. Now I wish I'd paid more attention to my grandma's Royalty magazines she was obsessed with as a child...

 

[Drappa]

More pics: