Hand block-printed crêpe-de-Chine dress. Saxe blue and white polka dot with plain Saxe blue panels. Set-in sleeves, high neck, blue waistband, 5 covered buttons and loops to fasten at back neck. Made by Cryséde Ltd., St Ives, and altered in the 1940s.

Cryséde began making dresses in Newlyn in 1919, shortly after Kay and Alec Walker had moved to Cornwall. The first garments were designed by Kay, patterned in checks, stripes and spots. Alec’s background was in silk manufacture, bringing machinery from Yorkshire and his expertise from his own Vigil Silk company in London. His iconic designs were later cultivated through Kay’s introduction to the artists of Newlyn School of Art, and trips to Paris a few years later. Many of the simpler designs, like the polka dot, remained popular throughout the company’s history.

Length 1000mm, width 450mm