London Museum Seeks David Bowie’s
Dress for Exhibit on Jews in British
Fashion Industry
David Bowie, Greta Garbo and Sean Connery were not Jewish. But some of the
garments they made famous — Bowie’s dresses, Garbo’s hats and the tuxedo
Connery donned as James Bond — all had Jewish creators.

A London museum is trying to gather some of those pieces of clothing for an
exhibit on the impact that the city’s immigrant communities had on the British fashion
industry. The Museum of London Docklands documents the capital city’s history as a port
town, telling the stories of those who arrived on the River Thames, from African
slaves brought through the Atlantic slave trade to the masses of Jewish immigrants
who came in the late 1800s fl eeing persecution in Eastern Europe.

Like their co-religionists who arrived in New York, many of those Jews found
themselves in the garment industry after immigrating.

“Jewish people were working at all levels of the fashion industry in London
throughout the 20th century, but the extent of their contribution has been widely
unrecognized,” fashion curator Lucie Whitmore said in a statement from the
museum. “Jewish makers established the ready to wear industry, worked their way
into the highest levels of London fashion and dominated Carnaby Street in the
swinging sixties. Many of these designers were internationally famous — favoured
by the rich and famous and highly respected for their creativity, skill and originality.

It’s a contribution that deserves to be recognised.”
Starting in October and running until April 2024, the museum will host an exhibit
David Bowie is shown with his wife Angie at home in Kent, England, in 1971,
in a dress that he famously wore on the cover of his “The Man Who Sold the
World” album.

titled “Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style.”
To fi ll out the collection, however, they have put out a public call for help in
gathering notable artifacts created by Jewish designers such as Mr. Fish (born
Michael Fish), Cecil Gee, Otto Lucas, the Rahvis sisters and Madame Isobel (Isobel
Spevak Harris). The statement states the museum is looking for “menswear pieces
… worn by famous names such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Muhammad Ali and
Michael Caine,” along with “members of The Beatles,” by March 1.

Fish produced some of Britain’s most iconic 1960s and '70s fashion designs, such
as the wide kipper tie. Cecil Gee began his career in the 1930s and designed the
“Demob Suit” (short for demobilization), which was granted to British soldiers by the
army after their release from World War II service. Raemonde and Dora Rahvis were
two South Africa-born Jewish sisters who after immigrating to London became some
of the fi rst prominent costume designers in the British fi lm industry. ■
— David I. Klein/JTA
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FEBRUARY 2, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
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