POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

This wedding outfit was worn by Claudia Chan Shaw for her marriage to Stewart White on Sunday 17 October 1993. The ceremony was held at 5pm in the grounds of Vaucluse House, Wentworth Road Vaucluce, Sydney with a reception afterwards in the Vaucluse House Tearooms. On arriving at Vaucluse House Claudia had to walk across the lawn to meet the bridal party. She noted that her husband Stewart felt the dress was perfect and commented 'now I know where the My Fair Lady video went'. While the outfit was not consciously inspired by the movie 'My Fair Lady' its silhouette and black and white palette does evoke some of the dresses Audrey Hepburn wore in the movie. For the last 150 years the white wedding dress has lain at the heart of the often-complex preparations for the marriage ceremony in traditional Anglo-Saxon unions, and increasingly in the marriage ceremonies of other cultures. Claudia Chan Shaw's wedding outfit reflects the growing trend for brides to select an outfit that may make reference to the white wedding dress tradition but is a very individual expression of the brides personal style and her vision of how she would like to appear at this significant ceremony. This individualising of the ceremony is also reflected in the couples selection of a secular outdoor setting instead of a church based ceremony. Vivian Chan Shaw: Vivian Chan Shaw is a self-taught designer. She designed and made her own clothes from a young age but originally trained as a musician, studying piano at the Conservatorium High School in Sydney and then Arts at Sydney University. In 1965, with an urgent need to support her four young children, Chan Shaw made her first move into the fashion industry, knitting clothing for David Jones baby boutique. In 1966 she joined René Fabrics as a buyer of fabrics, trimmings and laces. Recognising her design skills they asked her to provide a fashion design service for customers, using the fabrics sold by the store. Chan Shaw then went to Canns, which at the time was Sydney's leading bridal wear department store. Here she worked as fashion co-ordinator, buyer and designer before moving into fashion retail, managing the very hip In Shoppe and Merivale boutiques. This valuable retailing experience gave her the confidence to start her own business. Chan Shaw's first designs were hand made one-off jersey garments featuring hand rolled edges and elaborate appliqued designs. These often spectacular garments sold through her first retail outlet, Jeunesse established in 1972 in the Royal Arcade, under the Sydney Hilton Hotel; a position that ensured some of her first customers included international celebrities Dionne Warwick, Bo Derek and Margaux Hemingway. Even at this early stage her outfits were constructed for comfort and designed with drawstrings and wrap and tie closures providing flexibility of fit. By the early 1970s Chan Shaw was also including a few hand knitted fashion garments in her production and was increasingly drawn to the potential of this medium. A knitting revival was underway in the 1970s and 1980s with craft practitioners and artists exploring and experimenting with various techniques and forms. Designers like Jenny Kee successfully melded art, craft and fashion in knitwear design and this cross fertilisation of the medium was dubbed 'art clothes'. Chan Shaw also began to experiment with knitwear and while her work fitted loosely within the art clothes aesthetic she stood outside it, preferring to take the raw hand-crafted feel out of the medium, producing instead very refined knits with a high fashion feel. In 1986 Chan Shaw opened her eponymous retail outlet in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. By this time she was designing only knitwear and further developed her distinctive signature of draped and layered, assymetrical forms in collections of interchangeable pieces. The garments flexible fit also allowed Chan Shaw to develop a strong local and international mail order service.