Hi all, Apologies if there is a handy source of information on the site somewhere, but I’ve come across a couple of Kitty Copeland / Marisa at Kitty Copeland dresses and wondered if anyone had any background on the label / Kitty / Marisa ?!!! with thanks Impey
Here are a few bits of information I collected in the process of researching your question: — the earliest reference I found to Kitty Copeland (Ltd) was in an October 1938 article — the newspaper resource I used had the latest reference to Kitty Copeland in 1986, but there may have been other mentions in later papers that weren’t included in that database — a 1939 (I think) classified ad solicited machinists to work for Kitty Copeland, Ltd, makers of “medium-class gowns” — a 1942 classified ad solicited finishers/pressers for the company, which was an “officially designated factory” for utility clothing — the only references I found to Marisa and Copeland were from 1972-1978 — the Marisa and Copeland references mentioned “from the Marisa range,” “from the Marisa collection,” and “jersey by Marisa” but there was no additional information about who or what Marisa was
Likewise - all I got was a 'Kitty Copeland' ad from the Birmingham Post of 16 March 1967 for Rackhams, aka Harrods, (and two other dates in '67) and one for 'Marissa at Kitty Copeland' in the Liverpool Echo of 25 Jan 1978 that has a fairly ropey photo of a floral dress. Not much to go on I'm afraid :-(