{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1790785"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1790785/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH0611/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH0611/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PH0611","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PH0612","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1790785/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1790785","accessionNumber":"T.19-2025","objectType":"Dress","titles":[{"title":"Casbah","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Sleeveless cotton dress with a scooped rounded neckline, the crop-top (terminating just under the bust) and above-knee length tubular skirt connected by a wide band of navy blue-black mesh forming the midriff section. The solid linen-weave cotton fabric is printed in orange, terracotta and navy blue. Unlined, back zipper. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"John Bates","id":"A10101"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Jean Varon","id":"A19533"},"association":{"text":"designed for","id":"x41471"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Wallach","id":"AUTH405418"},"association":{"text":"textile designer","id":"x36044"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"}],"techniques":[{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"printed cotton; mesh","categories":[{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PH0611","2025PH0612"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES385813"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"dresses","id":"AAT46159"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United Kingdom","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Cambridge","id":"x31566"},"association":{"text":"purchased","id":"x40824"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Munich","id":"x29009"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":"textile"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 1964","earliest":"1964-06-01","latest":"1964-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1965","earliest":"1965-01-01","latest":"1965-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Anna Hodson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"100","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approximate","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"shoulder to hem","note":"Flat measurement"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Flat measurement at widest point"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Flat measurement for storage"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Casbah debuted in the fashion press in UK <i>Vogue</i>, January 1965, and is therefore likely to have been designed late in 1964. It was deliberately designed to be shorter than what was considered acceptable at the time. Modelled by Jean Shrimpton, the accompanying copy described a 'skimp dress, bikini top and short-short skirt netted together.' The terms 'skimp dress' and 'short-short skirt' are early names for what would soon become popularly known as the minidress or miniskirt. The editor of <i>Young Vogue</i> at this time was Marit Allen (1941-2007), who always insisted that Bates, rather than Quant, Andre Courreges or anyone else, was the first designer to offer true mini-length garments. It is not far-fetched to assume that whenever Allen made this claim, she was thinking specifically of Casbah. When the dress was chosen by the Fashion Writers' Association for the Fashion Museum, Bath as the 1965 Dress of the Year, the Museum founder Doris Langley Moore commented it was intended to be worn three inches above the knee. However, when more average-height wearers put the dress on, its shortness was less noticeable than on a tall, long-limbed model like the 5'10 Shrimpton. The original wearer of the dress offered to us is significantly shorter than Shrimpton, and remembers it being knee-length on her.\n\nIn the January 1965 copy, Vogue identified the striking terracotta, navy and orange printed cotton of this dress as a Wallach textile. Wallach (1900-2022) was a Jewish-German textile design and manufacturing firm founded in 1900 by Julius and Moritz Wallach. It made its name in the early 20th century as a creator of materials inspired by European traditional prints, as well as collaborating with the Bauhaus and other contemporary artists to create dress and furnishing textiles which were available internationally and used by high fashion designers including Poiret, Lanvin, and Rodier. After Moritz Wallach reclaimed ownership of the Dachau-based company in 1949, following its forced sale to Nazis prior to the Second World War, the Dachau branch was managed by Max Sedlmayer until its closure in 1983 when the business was acquired by the Loden-Frey department store. After the store closed in 2004, select woodblock and screen-print Wallach textiles were produced in Ruhmannsfelden by former employee Josef Fromholzer until his retirement in 2022, when production of Wallach designs finally ended. Wallach used exclusive weaving and printing processes, which meant their textiles were immediately recognisable to those in the know.\n\n- Daniel Milford-Cottam, 09/07/2025","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Casbah'; John Bates for Jean Varon. Printed cotton crop top and tubular skirt connected with navy blue-black mesh. Late 1964/early 1965. The fabric by Wallach.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Ready to wear","id":"THES48866"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Jean Shrimpton","id":"N2780"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.19-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"19","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-15","recordCreationDate":"2024-11-14","availableToBook":false}}