{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1171769"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1171769/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EN5147/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EN5147/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EN5147","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EN5148","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MR3511","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MR3512","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MR3517","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1171769/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1171769","accessionNumber":"T.48:1, 2-2010","objectType":"Wedding dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This coat and dress ensemble was chosen by Susan Fryer for her marriage to Stephen Smith on 1 September 1970 at Wembley Park Congregational Church, Middlesex. It was  retailed by Berketex, a successful British ready-to-wear company founded by Leslie Berker in Plymouth in 1936. They catered to women looking for fashionable, good quality ready-made daywear, evening gowns, and wedding dresses at reasonable prices. At the time of its closure in 2018, the Berketex company had become exclusively a bridalwear manufacturer, producing wedding and mother-of-the-bride outfits.\r\n\r\nThis outfit is well-designed and innovative. The full length trailing coat in machine-made lace has a deep hood which offers an elegant alternative to a traditional wedding veil. The simple sleeveless satin dress underneath could be worn afterwards as an evening dress. The bride first saw the dress illustrated in a magazine, and went to the Berketex shop in Oxford Street, London to buy it directly from them. She liked it because it reminded her of the hooded coat the singer Lulu wore for her 1969 wedding.","physicalDescription":"Wedding dress and coat. The dress is a straight-cut sleeveless column style in unlined white synthetic satin. Over it is worn a full length coat of white machine-made lace with flared sleeves, hood and long train, the cuffs, hood and train bordered with tight ruffles of the same lace and the coat fastens at the neck with a row of small pearl buttons. The main body of the coat is unlined, and the hood is lined with slightly stiffer white machine-made synthetic net.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Berketex","id":"A35726"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine lace-making","id":"x35048"},{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Synthetic satin; machine-made lace, machine sewn","categories":[{"text":"Marriage","id":"THES48921"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2011EN5147","2011EN5148","2020MR3511","2020MR3512","2020MR3517"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"022","id":"THES311190"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"022","id":"THES311190"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"wedding dress","id":""}],[{"text":"wedding coat","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"purchased","id":"x40824"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"early 1970","earliest":"1970-01-01","latest":"1970-06-30"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1 September 1970","earliest":"1970-09-01","latest":"1970-09-01"},"association":{"text":"worn","id":"x34724"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs Susan Evans","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This gown and coat were worn by Susan Fryer for her marriage to Stephen Smith on 1 September 1970 at Wembley Park Congregational Church. Susan chose the dress after seeing it illustrated in a magazine because she liked the singer Lulu's wedding outfit and the dress reminded her of it. The hooded lace coat offered an alternative to a wedding veil, which she did not want to wear. The outfit originally cost £33.00 and was purchased as a ready-to-wear outfit from the Berketex branch at Oxford Street, London. The concept of a lightweight sheer or semi-sheer coat over a simple gown became very popular for brides in the early 1990s, making this outfit quite innovative for a 1970 ready-to-wear design. Berketex, founded by Leslie Berker in 1936, became an extremely successful British clothing company with a significant presence in the ready-to-wear fashion scene during the 1940s-1980s. While they had always produced wedding gowns, the brand became increasingly bridalwear focused from the 1990s onwards until its closure in 2018.\n\nAt the time of acquisition this dress was the museum's first example of a ready-to-wear wedding dress. The majority of 20th and 21st century wedding dresses in our holdings are either expensive high-end designer wedding dresses, and/or specially made for an individual bride, and/or outfits not designed specifically as wedding attire, but chosen to act as a wedding outfit. This outfit therefore represents an important aspect of 20th century wedding dress history.\n\nIn 2025 a member of the public contacted the museum regarding her wedding gown by Deborah Newall, which she purchased from the Harrods' summer sale in 1970 for her wedding on 29th August 1970. The design of the Deborah Newall gown - a long, hooded guipure lace coat over a sleeveless white silk column gown - is almost identical to the Berketex model, with a few differences, mainly more expensive fabric choices in the Newall, but also no train on the lace coat, less ruffles, and a different neckline on the Newall design. Other than this, the two dresses are so similar in design that it appears that Berketex intentionally based their budget-priced design upon that of a more exclusive higher-end wedding dress, making a few small but noticeable changes to avoid being accused of directly copying someone else's design. This was standard practice for British ready-to-wear and mid-range labels at the time, such as Frank Usher, whose speciality was licensed lookalikes of Paris couture produced for a mid-priced ready-to-wear budget.\n\n- Daniel Milford-Cottam, 09/03/2026\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Wedding dress & lace coat with hood, Berketex, British, worn September 1970.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Ready to wear","id":"THES48866"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.48:1-2010","T.48:2-2010"],"accessionNumberNum":"48","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2010,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","wedding dress","wedding coat"],"assets":["2025PE8489"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-09","recordCreationDate":"2010-08-27","availableToBook":true}}