Gerald McCann (5 November 1931 – 26 June 2019) was a British fashion designer who was considered among the leading lights of the
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
fashion scene, alongside names such as
Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...
, subsequently moving to the United States to continue his career with Larry Levine.
After early commercial success designing for other brands, McCann established his own label in 1963. He attracted the attention of influential US fashion buyers in the mid 1960s and soon began designing for the American market, as well as for key British fashion retailers targeting the youth market. He moved to the US to work on New York's
Seventh Avenue in 1974, returning to Britain some two decades later, where he continued supplying UK fashion retailers.
In a profile piece in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
'' in 1991, Liz Smith described him as: "a master of high style at low prices".
The
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and ...
(V&A) described him as playing: "an influential role in the development of the UK fashion industry".
He died in June 2019 at the age of 87.
Background and early career
McCann trained at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...
under
Madge Garland during the early 1950s, also getting involved in designing dresses for
debutante
A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from french: débutante , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal ...
s in the run up to the
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
of the Queen.
After graduating in 1953, McCann's first job was designing with
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
– he began creating designs for them while he was still a student.
In a 2006 interview with the V&A, he recalled that this was a very smart job, involving trips to the Paris fashion shows to view haute-couture work by
Balmain and
Dior
Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds 42.36% shares ...
.
Although notable successes included a dress design for Marks & Spencer that sold a million copies – for which he received a cheque from
Lord Marks – McCann decided this wasn't his long-term future and left to join the upmarket ready-to-wear house of Harry B. Popper.
There, he was involved with designing and selling to private clients, including
Princess Marina, and to high-end stores such as
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to othe ...
.
Harry B. Popper also supplied clothes to the Queen and
Princess Alexandra
Mary Quant's husband Alexander Plunket Greene asked McCann to help stock their first Bazaar boutique on the
King's Road
King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...
in 1955, and he took charge of the clothes while Quant handled the accessories.
Establishment of own fashion house
In 1963, Gerald McCann started his own business operation with a £600 bank loan.
Although by this stage he had designed for a decade – everything from high-end to high-street – he was among the "brash new breed of British designers" photographed by
Norman Parkinson
Norman Parkinson (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was an English portrait and fashion photographer. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved his subjects out of the studio and used outdoor settings. While servin ...
for a ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
'' magazine feature on how to get the Chelsea look. Others featured in the article included Mary Quant,
Jean Muir,
David Sassoon David Sassoon may refer to:
*David Sassoon (designer) (born 1932), British fashion designer
* David Sassoon (treasurer) (1792–1864), Iraqi-Jewish treasurer
*David Solomon Sassoon (1880–1942), Iraqi bibliophile
See also
*Sassoon family
* Albert ...
,
Kiki Byrne,
Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin.
He opened a boutique on Upper Grosvenor Street,
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world.
...
(downstairs from
Raphael and Leonard's House of Beauty), and his black crepe and organza dress was featured in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' just before Christmas, with author
Janey Ironside noting that the design had: "the added advantage that you do not look as if you had gone to the party in your slip and it is just as suitable for dancing the Birdie or the Hitchhike as for standing jammed clutching a glass".
He became a key supplier to the hip boutique Woollands' 21, as well as Harrods and
Peter Robinson's Top Shop The buyer at Woollands' 21 Vanessa Denza noted that his dresses were always top sellers.
McCann was the only one of the young designers stocked by Woollands' 21 to have his own manufacturing base – he had a number of factories in
Brewer Street and Poland Street,
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was devel ...
– so could supply the larger orders (for instance, 350 of one item) with lead times of a week.
McCann's designs frequently appeared in ''
Vogues 'Young Ideas' section, then supervised by Lady Rendlesham.
His bra-cut dresses in denim and gingham, gymslips with low pockets and men's shirt buttons, and
trapeze dresses with
Peter pan collars were popular among stars such as
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. S ...
,
Jean Shrimpton
Jean Rosemary Shrimpton (born 7 November 1942) is an English model and actress. She was an icon of Swinging London and is considered to be one of the world's first supermodels.
She appeared on numerous magazine covers including '' Vogue,'' ''H ...
and
Susannah York
Susannah Yolande Fletcher (9 January 1939 – 15 January 2011), known professionally as Susannah York, was an English actress. Her appearances in various films of the 1960s, including '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ...
.
He was also a preferred designer of
The Colony Room proprietor
Muriel Belcher.
In 1965, he dressed
Rita Tushingham in the British
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
-winning comedy ''
The Knack
The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979.
History Founding (1977–1978)
Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a n ...
''.
He was also among the 'young design quartet' – alongside Jean Muir, Roger Nelson and
Moya Bowler – to produce shoes for
Rayne.
By 1966, the year in which ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' published its 'Swinging London' issue, McCann was a well-established name.
McCann also made his name as a pattern designer for the growing home-sewing market, creating designs for
Butterick and appearing on the
BBC sewing show ''Clothes That Count''.
By 1970, he was also designing for the men's market.
Designs for the United States
McCann had early appeal for the American market – indeed, in time this would eclipse his reputation in the UK. A 1964 feature in ''The Observer'' entitled 'The Importance of Being British', singled him out, alongside
Burberry
Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessor ...
and
Aquascutum
Aquascutum was a British-based luxury goods, luxury clothing manufacturer and retailer. It is currently owned by Shandong Ruyi.
History
Aquascutum was established in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, when tailor and entrepreneur John Emar ...
, as a name with cachet for foreign buyers, quoting the fashion director of Helen Whiting in New York who had said: "Everything Gerald had looked new for our market".
His work was also spotted by
Bloomingdales
Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...
buyer Ida Sciolino, who asked him to make something for her. This subsequently appeared on the cover of ''
Glamour'' in the US and created a stir.
McCann took his clothes designs on "whistlestop tours" of America and attracted enough attention to be invited to appear on breakfast TV shows. Bloomingdales opened a Gerald McCann department, with the buyer reporting eight buyers for every coat on the rack.
McCann commuted between London and New York between 1965 and 1973 before settling full-time as a designer in New York's
Garment District. His designs had mass-market sales – one coat design for
Larry Levine
Larry Levine (May 8, 1928 – May 8, 2008) was an American audio engineer, known for his collaboration with Phil Spector on the Wall of Sound recording technique.
Biography
Levine received the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recordin ...
earned him a five-figure royalty.
Alongside Bloomingdales, his clothes were stocked by
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...
and
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman.
T ...
.
McCann recalled in a V&A interview that the numbers produced were on a different scale entirely: "there's no room for error because the amounts at stake are enormous, 140,000 of one style".
Return to the UK
McCann returned to the UK at the start of the 1990s and began designing clothes for department stores such as
Fenwick, Harrods and
House of Fraser
House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
. Speaking to ''The Times'' about his return to British fashion after two decades away, he described his exasperation with the industry's focus on young designers. "What they need is a ''good'' designer to do young clothes...the trouble is that the industry forces them too early. They are never given the chance to make their mistakes in the backroom."
References
External links
Gerald McCann on BBC's ''Clothes that Count'' in 1967 (begins 20.40)David Bailey portrait of Gerald McCann in the V&A Museum archiveGerald McCann portraits at the National Portrait GalleryGerald McCann dress similar to designs created for Butterick, from V&A archiveMcCann label at Vintage Fashion Guild
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Gerald
1931 births
2019 deaths
1950s fashion
1960s fashion
1970s fashion
1980s fashion
1990s fashion
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
English fashion designers
20th-century English businesspeople