Norman Hartnell’s 1928 wedding dress: A gown’s curious journey

On 26 May 1928, the weekly illustrated newspaper The Graphic treated its readers to a photograph of a beautiful bride with this caption: “This lovely wedding dress, designed by Mr. Norman Hartnell, has been accepted by the London Museum, where it will be exhibited after 1960, as a perfect specimen of our quaint ‘period’.”

Two months earlier, on 28 March 1928, the dress had indeed been presented to the museum by the woman in the photograph: Mrs Carl Bendix of 19 New Cavendish Street. However, Mrs Bendix did not wear the dress to her wedding.

Before we unravel this story, let us first look at the gown. It is ankle-length and made of pale pink satin. Like the matching train of pink silk net, the satin is decorated with five-petalled flowers outlined in clear glass bugle beads, bordered by a silver metal thread in chain stitch.

The petals are either cut into the satin, or petal-shaped satin is applied to the parts made of net. The centre of each flower is formed by a single cabochon pearl, dyed pale pink.

The dress features the dropped waist typical of the 1920s. Still, it also has a distinctly medieval flair, which derives from its neckline, the simple cut of its upper part and the bell-shaped, long sleeves. Think medieval gowns interpreted by the Pre-Raphaelites such as John William Waterhouse’s Lady of Shallot.

To ensure that the top part sits smoothly over the wearer’s torso, 10 circular metal weights are suspended from tapes attached to the waistline. The dress was worn over a pale pink crepe de chine silk slip with two deep layers of net attached to the hem. To the slip’s seam allowance a woven label had been stitched bearing its designer’s name and address: ‘Norman Hartnell / 10 Bruton Street W’.

Hartnell had set up his fashion business only in April 1923, showing his first collections the following year. When he designed a wedding dress for his friend Daphne Vivian for her wedding to Henry Thynne, Sixth Marquess of Bath, in October 1927, Hartnell studied Renaissance and medieval paintings that continued to influence his designs for many years. The dress worn by Mrs Bendix was a precursor of a fashion that swept through high society.

The couturier made a dress almost identical to ours (now in the Bowes Museum) for Joan Redhead, who married John Raymond Roper on 24 July 1928 at St Margaret’s Westminster, a popular church for society weddings.

It was described in The Times the next day as “a picture gown of ivory satin embroidered with crystal bugles, pearls and silver thread, and finished with a deep hem of white tulle and long flowing sleeves”. The white tulle train is “bordered by appliquéd satin flowers, embroidered in the same design as the gown”.

Even more spectacular was Hartnell’s medievalist creation for Margaret Whigham, later the Duchess of Argyll, for her wedding to Mr Charles Sweeny at the Brompton Oratory on 21 February 1933 – now in the V&A Museum. Some have seen similarities to one of Hartnell’s most famous creations: the wedding dress worn by Queen Elizabeth in 1947, famously inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s painting of Primavera, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

But why did Mrs Bendix wear Hartnell’s wedding dress, if not for her wedding?

Mrs Bendix was born Daisy Hancox in 1894 in Wandsworth, the daughter of a police constable. During the First World War, Daisy joined Richard Daly’s theatre, progressing from understudy to leading lady by October 1916.

The following year, Daisy accepted an engagement with the theatrical manager and impresario C.B. Cochrane, appearing in several of his revues. Tuberculosis seems to have put an end to her theatrical career. She’s last mentioned in The Times in June 1920, when she appeared in the musical Irene at London’s Empire Theatre. On 7 October 1921, Daisy married stockbroker Carl Alfred Bendix at the Marylebone register office. We don’t know what Daisy wore on that occasion, but she certainly would not have required an elaborate wedding dress.

There might have been a reason why Daisy’s wedding was low-key. Her husband’s first wife had just been awarded £5,000 for “breach of promise”. According to court proceedings, Mr Bendix’s first marriage had been dissolved after 14 years in February 1921. Not long after, he promised his divorced wife, or so she alleged, to remarry her, then postponed this wedding several times until “on October 7 he married a young lady who was on the stage” (Manchester Guardian, 24 February 1922).

This unfortunate incident seems to have been forgotten a few years later.

In December 1927, Mrs Carl Bendix appeared as one of presumably 12 society women representing the signs of the Zodiac at a pageant in aid of St John’s Hospital, Lewisham. Charity balls with elaborate pageants were extremely popular in the inter-war years, and the frequently outlandish costumes were often published in society magazines.

On 29 February 1928, The Sketch published photographs by Bertram Park of participants in an upcoming pageant. The costumes, created for the “Dream of Fair Women” ball at Claridge’s, were in aid of the Winter Distress League. This “one of the most brilliant ‘in-aid-of’ festivities of the pre-Easter season” included a fashion parade of ‘Past, Present, and Future Fashions’.

Cecil Beaton, the “well-known amateur photographer and dress designer”, designed the latter, including 'the Nun of 1980', 'the Bride of 2028' – ‘dress of Directoire tendencies with a mammoth ruffle’ and ‘the Bather of the Future’.

My favourite is ‘the Going-Away costume for the Bride of 1940’, a ‘jumpsuit’ with propellers- and aeroplanes-embroidered knee breeches and a silver aviator’s helmet. Mrs Bendix’s ‘beautiful modern bridal dress’ almost seems boring in comparison.

I am intrigued by Hartnell’s detailed work for a gown that was going to be worn for just an evening. (Although, I suppose, wedding dresses are generally worn for just a few hours.) Did Mrs Bendix wear it only for the pageant? Hartnell, of course, knew his dress was going to be seen by many society women, potentially influencing future commissions.

That the dress was donated by Mrs Bendix, and not Hartnell, suggests it was hers. Perhaps purchased as a charitable contribution? It must have been odd having a wedding dress at home that wasn’t your own. It’s understandable and fortunate for us that she decided to part with it.

Daisy's life took dramatic turns. She got involved with the dashing and married Brig-Gen. Alfred Cecil Critchley, leading to her divorce from Bendix in May 1936. By November, she married Capt. Lionel Cotterill Neame, who worked for the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War. We don’t know what Daisy wore, but they wed at St Ethelburga’s, called in The Bystander “that quaint old City church that rescues twice-marrieds from the banality of a registry office” (18 November 1936).

In 1949, Daisy married a third and last time, becoming the second wife of Lt Col. Dudley Jaffray Hynman Allenby, Second Viscount Allenby of Megiddo. This marriage lasted over 30 years until his death in 1984. Daisy died the following year.

Her magnificent dress remains in London Museum’s collection, an enduring part of London's fashion history.

Beatrice Behlen is Senior Curator, Dress & Textiles at London Museum.