David Bond is an English fashion designer who was known for his trouser suits in the 1960s (one of which was chosen as Dress of the Year in 1967). Since the 1980s he has also written several books on fashion and design history. Bond was born close to Wales, in the area that would become

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, and won a scholarship to the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where he was one of

Janey Ironside Janey Ironside (1919 – 6 April 1979)"Professor Janey Ironside", ''The Times'', 19 November 1979, p. IV. was a British academic who was professor of fashion at London's Royal College of Art, a position she held from 1956 to 1968. She was a key ...

's first students. He then went on to become a designer for Slimma, a middle-market brand originally founded in 1935. Under the Slimma Group One label, Bond gained a reputation for his "Total Look" of tight, slender tailoring, often in elasticated fabrics, which was modelled by

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

for the fashion press. In 1967 the fashion journalist Felicity Green was asked by the

Fashion Museum, Bath The Fashion Museum (known before 2007 as the Museum of Costume) was housed in the Assembly Rooms in Bath, Somerset, England. The collection was started by Doris Langley Moore, who gave her collection of costumes to the city of Bath in 1963. T ...

to choose the most representative look for that year for their Dress of the Year collection. Green worked for the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', and wanted to pick something that reflected the type of quality ready-to-wear clothing available from good department stores anywhere in the country, rather than expensive high-end clothing that the average ''Mirror'' reader could never afford. She had also noticed that trouser ensembles were increasingly accepted in a wider range of contexts, and therefore, chose Bond's slim-cut orange, pink and yellow striped trousers, jacket and blouse for the Slimma label. The shoes were made by Saxone, also a widely known and accessible High Street brand, although the hat was a custom one-off design by Edward Mann. 1967 marked the first time that the Dress of the Year was widely reported in the British fashion press, with Green contributing a significant article for the ''Mirror'' discussing her decision to select something that did not include an actual dress. The

Adel Rootstein Adel Rootstein (1930 – 20 September 1992) was a British mannequin designer responsible for premium designs that are sold worldwide. Early life Rootstein was born in Warmbaths, South Africa in 1930. She married the industrial designer Richar ...

mannequin selected to model the look represented the African-American model

Donyale Luna Peggy Ann Freeman (August 31, 1945 – May 17, 1979), known professionally as Donyale Luna, was an American model and actress who gained popularity in Western Europe during the late 1960s. Generally cited as "the first Black supermodel", Luna ...

. In 1976 Bond designed and presented his first collection for Craftcentre Wales, an organisation founded by David Lewis and based in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

, North Wales to specialise in Welsh-produced artisan goods. Although he was not Welsh, Bond had close links to North Wales due to regular childhood holidays there, and loved working with natural fibres and traditional Welsh textiles. The Craftcentre designs were made up from exclusive fabrics woven in

Penmachno Penmachno is a village in the isolated upland Machno valley, south of Betws-y-Coed in the county of Conwy, North Wales. The B4406 road runs through part of the village. The village is at the confluence of the Glasgwm and Machno rivers. It ha ...

in a conscious effort to preserve the dying skills of the village craftspeople. During the 1980s he became an author, publishing several books on the history of fashion and design.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, David Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 20th-century English writers English fashion designers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Designers from Merseyside Year of birth missing (living people)