Lachasse
| Private company | |
| Traded as | Lachasse |
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | London, England (1928) |
| Founder | Fred Shingleton |
| Defunct | 2006 |
| Headquarters | London, England |
|
Key people
|
Digby Morton, Hardy Amies, Michael Donnellan, Owen, Peter Lewis-Crown |
| Products | Couture, ready-to-wear (from 1981) |
Lachasse was a British couture firm operating from 1928 until 2006, making it one of the longest surviving high fashion houses in London.
Part of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc), it is notable for being a major training ground for British couturiers, numbering Digby Morton, Hardy Amies and Michael Donnellan among its chief designers. Later it would train further designers, with names such as Stephen Jones and John Galliano passing through the couture house as trainees on their way to successful solo careers.
During the heydey of couture, Lachasse's customers included Princess Marina and Countess Mountbatten.
Founded in 1928, Lachasse focused on the 1920s trend for sportswear. Some sources say it was established by a Mrs Philips, however the more prominent name behind the brand was Fred Shingleton. It was an offshoot of the couture house of Gray, Paulette & Shingleton – Paulette was a fashion house that had been bought by Shingleton. Writing in 1964, The Guardian fashion editor Alison Adburgham said: "People often ask, why Lachasse – there is no individual of that name, nor has there ever been. Lachasse was an offshoot... of a famous dress house in Berkeley Square called Paulette".
Its original designer was Digby Morton, who is credited with coming up with the name because, as he later said, British women wouldn't buy high-end fashion designs unless they sounded French. Morton's first women's collection for Lachasse introduced unusual colour combinations into Donegal tweed and reduced detailing so that the cut of the suit stood out. This transformed what had previously been considered staid country wear into something chic enough for town. As Alison Adburgham noted in 1964, Morton: "made it fashionable to wear tweeds in London". The elegantly cut daywear suit became one of the hallmarks of Lachasse and would be refined by later house designers.
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Wikipedia