Jean Varon Ritu Kumar Print Silk Dress

[Lynette]

Hi there I have read the John Bates/Jean Varon info on here, and have also checked on Google but wondered if anyone else had come across this collaboration before? I am guessing, from the style that the dress is mid 1970s. It is pure silk and in excellent condition (so excellent, I was beginning to think it might even be later). So any thoughts on when it was made, but also on dresses using Ritu Kumar prints? Thanks for your help. Lynette

 

[cactusandcattails]

Can you post a photo of the label?

 

[Lynette]

Couldn't upload them first time...

 

[Jonathan]

I always think of those dresses as mid 70s too, but I remember they were still being sold and worn well into the early 80s.

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

I agree with Jonathan - they were popular from the mid '70s up to the early '80s. I had several that I bought in '81, not Jean Varon or Ritu Kumar mind, but that sort of textile and style.

I think yours is probably late '70s.

 

[laughingmagpie]

I have a couple Ritu Kumar pieces from the early 2000s. When did she start exporting fabric? I've been trying to find some information and it's a bit frustrating - this article interviews Ritu Kumar and if only she specified the year that "an Australian lady walked into her 240 square foot workspace when she started out and placed her first export order." Anyway, her boutiques started in the mid-late 1960s, so I guess it's possible, but with all the other clues (like "Jean Varon" and the style) the '70s look more likely.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...ur-clothes-our-handwriting/article4395153.ece

 

[Lynette]

Thanks for all your help. It actually says it is made in India (so the fabric wouldn't have been exported perhaps?). It seems Ritu Kumar has been around for quite a while - so it makes it more difficult to pinpoint. Instinctively it seems mid/late 70s - so I will go with that.

 

[sarah-jane]

John Bates was something of fashion leader, rather than a follower. So while these style were worn into the 80s, I imagine this is earlier.

Sarah

 

[Pinkcoke]

I'm inclined to think that the fact this dress incorporates another artist would indicate post Bates work, the label is not one I've seen on a Bates design either and I agree with 1970s. Besides the Indian print popularity back then many 70's labels had brown font text.