Bellville Sassoon Retrospective Preview

BELLVILLE SASSOON, the British label worn by Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, is the subject of a new exhibition to be held at the Fashion and Textiles Museum. The display will feature 150 creations spanning six decades. "I retired after 55 years last year and as a trustee of the museum, I've helped mount a few of the exhibitions held there - so it made sense to hold the retrospective there," designer David Sassoon told us. "I've had a long career - I joined the label in 1958, so the exhibition really shows the diversity in fashion over quite an extensive period." Sassoon is one of the only labels to have designed for every member of the royal family (except the Queen), his most famous client being Diana, Princess of Wales. The display includes a series of sketches of dresses made for the late Princess, annotated by the royal herself with her musings and ideas. "I had a lovely rapport with her," said Sassoon. "She was a joy to work with, so charismatic and always so grateful for any work that I did for her. Everyone says she liked making a lot of fuss, but that wasn't my experience of her at all. I knew her even before she became a princess - I have a very special place in my heart for her." Sassoon says that one of the proudest moments of his career was after he received praise from an unlikely band of fans - who loved the romantic off-the-shoulder gown that he created for Diana just before she announced her first pregnancy in 1981. "We called it the fairy dress, because it was so princess-like," he recalled. "The day after she wore it, I started receiving hundreds of letters from children telling me how much they adored it. It was a child's vision of the perfect princess dress." The Glamour of Bellville Sassoon opens on September 20 and closes on January 11.