Gerald McCann (fashion designer)

Gerald McCann
Born	1931 England
Occupation	Fashion designer

Gerald McCann (born 1931) is a British fashion designer who was considered among the leading lights of the Swinging London fashion scene, alongside names such as Mary Quant, subsequently moving to the United States to continue his career.

After early commercial success designing for other brands, McCann established his own label in 1963. He attracted the attention of influential US fashion buyers in the mid 1960s and soon began designing for the American market, as well as for key British fashion retailers targeting the youth market. He moved to the US to work on New York's Seventh Avenue in 1974, returning to Britain some two decades later, where he continued supplying UK fashion retailers.

In a profile piece in The Times in 1991, Liz Smith described him as: "a master of high style at low prices". The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) described him as playing: "an influential role in the development of the UK fashion industry".

Gerald McCann trained at the Royal College of Art under Madge Garland during the early 1950s, also getting involved in designing dresses for debutantes in the run up to the coronation of the Queen.

After graduating in 1953, McCann's first job was designing with Marks & Spencer – he began creating designs for them while he was still a student. In a 2006 interview with the V&A, he recalled that this was a very smart job, involving trips to the Paris fashion shows to view haute-couture work by Balmain and Dior. Although notable successes included a dress design for Marks & Spencer that sold a million copies – for which he received a cheque from Lord Marks – McCann decided this wasn't his long-term future and left to join the upmarket ready-to-wear house of Harry B. Popper. There, he was involved with designing and selling to private clients, including Princess Marina, and to high-end stores such as Harrods. Harry B. Popper also supplied clothes to the Queen and Princess Alexandra

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