The Associated Fashion Designers of London (AFD)

retro ruth

retro ruth

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I've been researching a dress labelled Rhona Roy, and discovered something called the Associated Fashion Designers of London (AFD). I thought I'd start a thread for interest.

Not to be confused with the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers!

Founded in 1964. They were a group of 10 or 12 ready-to-wear firms, including: Marlborough, Simon Massey, Hildebrand, Alexon Youngset, Andre Peters, Harbro, John Marks, Rhona Roy, Cojana And Englander.


One article says the main founder was Monty Marks - I am not sure this is the same person as John Marks.

News story from Reuters 1969


The Associated Fashion Designers (AFD) Of London -- the group that encompasses the top-ten designers in the ready-to-wear couture field -- are presenting their 1970 spring and summer collections to foreign buyers this week (sunday 26 to tuesday 28 october).

The clothes shown will be in the shops after the new year -- and prices will range from gbp5 to gbp50 (12 to 120 dollars). And, since many of the designs incorporate paris haute couture features, these prices are said to compare very favourably with those presented by other countries.

As the AFD itself puts it: "top fashion for the masses, that's what this show is all about. The unmistakeable courreges look, in materials that can be thrown into the washing machine, and at high street shop prices."
maxis - which the AFD presented even before st. Laurent's impact, collection last year -- are again to the fore in several of the group's presentations.

Another big feature -- washable wool jersey -- as featured prominently by simon massey.

The ten who make up the AFD are: Marlborough, Simon Massey, Hildebrand, Alexon Youngset, Andre Peters, Harbro, John Marks, Rhona Roy, Cojana And Englander.
 
That's made me nostalgic for the pair of unworn with tags identical Andre Peters coats I found some years ago. I felt sure they were BA stewardess coats, had the most wonderful red pipings and lining. I sold them both pretty quickly, but only after working out who I should/shouldn't mention the stewardess thing to...one girl looked horrified and hurriedly scrambled out of the coat. I quietly had a word with myself. But then later someone else tried it on, and I thought she looked a little more game... And I was right, she loved the idea of wearing uniform!

I've had a few Rhona Roy dresses, nice quality but hardly cutting edge - the unmistakeable Courreges look has sadly not been in evidence!

Sarah
 
She Magazine January 1967 references AFD in a mid- and far-eastern-themed fashion spread shot at the Omar Khayyam restaurant in Cannon St by She's regular lensman Michael Murray. One item 'designed by Anne Tyrell for AFD founder member John Marks, Mortimer St' with other contributions from Rhona Roy. Simon Massey and Hildebrand. The previous month's issue also featured a rather jolly Massey minidress in a colour page ad for Berkshire stockings.

Other John Marks refs I've picked up (The Tower Library is a work-in-progress) are Vogue mid-March and mid-Oct 1965; Nova Apr 65; and Queen 5 May 65 and 16 Jun 65 and 19 Feb 69 ('John Marks Boutique at Peter Robinson') and 19 Jul 69 'John Marks at Way In'.

Strangely, no other ref to the AFD itself so far. The individual names crop up often enough though.

Adam Smith
 
First off, my apologies as this will be a long and rambling response, but I HOPE I can at least provide a little help.

I'm actually just writing my MA thesis at the moment (Royal College of Art- History of Design) and my topic is British ready-to-wear c.1947-59 looking (primarily) at the Model House Group. Not actually sure what my angle is on this yet (I have 9 months to write it), but I have already done a reasonable amount of the research.

So to begin, The MHG were founded in 1947 (or perhaps the tail end of '46- this is still unclear at the moment) for a group of "model" (high end ready-to-wear sometimes also confusing known as ready-to-wear couture and also wholesale couture) houses to pool their resources together for collective promotion particularly for export. The group had between 1947 and 1958 10-14 members (some joining and leaving) almost all the information to be found on the internet about the group is incorrect, but I will point out that Simon Massey who was later part of the AFD was a member of the group from inception. Simon Massey (run by Harry Massey) is a fascinating brand, particularly for the founders two messy and public divorces, but that is for another time....

SO, come 1958 the MHG had a bit of a restructure. Changing their name to become the fashion house group of London which was an altogether more inclusive group. Members were not purely the excluisve "model" houses but featured slightly cheaper ready to wear brands too. And included to begin with 19 members rising to (I think) 26 at the most. This group included a number of those who you mention as being members of the AFD. This group were influential at the time and were really helping to promote british fashion abroad, particularly to America.

The AFD formed in 1964. At this point the FHG were seen as the "establishment" of British ready-to-wear and the AFD were keen to promote themselves as "designers" rather than copyists of couture. The AFD was trying to promote what i remember being described as a "young, kooky" image. In 1965 owing to a lack of funds ( i think the FHG wanted government support in terms of money, but didn't get it) the FHG disbanded.

It seems therefore that when the fashion house group ran aground in 1965 a number of the members jumped ship from the fashion house group to the Association of fashion designers. Notably Simon Massey, i have a feeling Cojana and perhaps even Rhona Roy...although this is something I would have to check through my files for.

I hope this all makes sense, I'm writing it without looking at (precise) references so these are just the details I can remember off the top of my head!
 
Air du temp... You can run a nearly identical timeline in the States with the New York Couture Group and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. It must be the nature of the business at the time.
 
Once I've actually cleared up the details on MHG I need to look into both the New York couture group and the council of fashion designers of America. From what I can remember there was a bit of a debacle after the FHG staged a fashion show in New York on the Queen Elizabeth liner in '65 (the last export show before they disbanded) and the Council of Fashion Designers of America felt they were treading on their toes somewhat. I've only been reading British newspapers so far, so I'm not sure if the threat felt was real or dreamt up by the British journalists reporting!
 
Most of your info about the AFD is correct,Monty Marks of John Marks was one of the founders along with Malcolm Peters ( Andre Peters) who became chairman until his death in Jan 1976. The main purpose of the AFD was to be the first organised group to promote British fashion for export. The group worked with the British fashion council and the DTI,and organised some of the first sales trips to USA and South America. They also held many trade shows in London,and whistlestop shows around the UK.
Malcolm Peters was awarded the M B E in 1974 for services to export.
 
Sorry to be pedantic, but it wasn't the first organised group to promote British fashion for export both the MHG and FHG had already been highly successful under Frederick Starke in overseas promotion, particularly to America.
 
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