VINTAGE PRINGLE FOR HARRODS CAPE & SKIRT SUIT - PURE NEW WOOL, WOVEN IN SCOTALND

Fully lined with hood, hook & eye fastening and two beautifully ornate fabric button toggle fastenings at the front which make this piece sing.

Please note: one of the toggles has been mended with glue and we are currently sourcing a suitable dye to match and apply to correct this small fault, otherwise in VGC. We’ve assigned it the condition code GC below because of the fault above only. The price reflects this also, sold as seen without the correction.

Dry clean only.

Petite size 8-10.

Model in the Gothic Fairytale story is size 8-10, hips 37”/ waist 28” / height 5’8”, as is our mannequin.

Model wearing both skirt and cape is size 4, hips 25”/waist 22” /chest 32DD / height 5’4”

The skirt is more like a size 6-8.

Interestingly the cape has two extra strips sewn onto the lining so the wearer can wear it in another way which makes perfect sense and ideal for strolling if you get too warm.

A real fairytale piece. So much so that we made it a part of our own fashion story, in A Gothic Fairytale ‘Greatest Capes’ (see look book below). For the full story head over to our YouTube channel.

Sourced from Brighton Flea Market, Kemp Town. UK

“PROVENACE & HERITAGE IN THE FINEST TWEED LOVERS FAIRYTALE”

SKIRT: This is for a tiny waist, but what a beautiful skirt! Box V design to the front, A-line. Zips up at the back with an extra x2 hook and eyes at the top inside, reinforced at the waist ,fully lined. Zip is a little stiff but otherwise ok.

Both pieces in VGC apart from the fault with the toggle.. Fabulous!

I would consider this two-piece to be sold separately but it would be a shame!

What are you waiting for.

Give somebody that fairytale ending.

CONDITION CODES: V / GC

Read about the photographers on this concept shoot here

More about Pringle…

Pringle of Scotland, a yarn spinning and undergarment-weaving business, was founded in 1815 by Robert Pringle. It was originally called Waldie, Pringle,Wilson and Co. and was located in Hawick, Scotland, a centre for woollens manufacture since the late eighteenth century.

In the 1870’s, a Yorkshire mill-worker names Joseph Dawson invented an efficient new mechanical process for separating the softest cashmere from its harsher guard-hairs, inspired by an overland journey through India. The process revolutionised the production of fine cashmere clothing. The company founded by Dawson later became a conglomerate which acquired Pringle and another old Hawick company, Ballantyne.

Throughout the 19th century, Pringle manufactured undergarments (vests and stockings), but in the Edwardian period they ventured into outerwear production with coats for men and women. ‘Robert Pringle and Sons’ became a limited company in 1922. In 1934 the company hired Otto Weisz as head designer. Weisz’s innovative twinset for women decisively transformed soft woollens from underwear to comfortable and daringly figure-enhancing outerwear.

This switch go production sparked over 30 years of successful selling of mens’ and women’s luxury knitwear, with garments being modelled by high-profile, fashionable movie stars, from Margaret Lockwood to Lauren Bacall. Pringle garments, and cashmere in particular, were highly sought after and available from exclusive outlets.

In the years following the second world war, Pringle joined the effort to restore Britain’s economy through an export drive. This led to a great boost in the number of lines manufactured especially for high end U'.S. stores, associations which lasted through the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Source: Label Resource

Cashmere. Argyle. The Twinset. Cardigans for British (and Hollywood) royalty. All made famous, made relevant and in some instances made for the first time, by this knitwear company, whose origins lie in the unassuming town of Hawick, Scotland, United Kingdom.

It may have over a 200-year history, indeed it can be considered one of the oldest luxury fashion brands in the world, but Pringle of Scotland has always been a thoroughly modern, pioneering company. Founded in 1815 by Robert Pringle as manufacturers of knitted hosiery, it was Pringle, decades after its inception, that embraced and encouraged the technical innovations that led to the creation of knitted outerwear, and indeed coined the term ‘knitwear’ to describe its ever-growing collections.

Known and loved around the world for the use of cashmere, Pringle also introduced the intarsia design that soon became a signature argyle pattern. Adopted by the Duke of Windsor in the 1920s, argyle became instantly popular with the fashionable set of the time, and is still an often-referenced and globally recognised icon today.

The Pringle twinset, another brand invention inspired by the sporty knitwear pairings on the golf course, was taken up by many famous faces of the 1930s and 1940s. From the House of Windsor to the West Coast of America, Pringle cashmere was a must-have, and a twinset graced the shoulders of Joan Crawford, Margot Fonteyn, Grace Kelly, Margaret Lockwood, Moirer Shearer and Jean Simmons among a host of others. A Pringle cashmere twinset made the cover of Vogue in 1955.

“It was Pringle who introduced Sweaters that were the softest, supplest, finest things that could be made from cashmere. It was Pringle who brought to Sweaters these rare and beautiful colourings.” – Edith Wharton.

Pringle received its Royal Warrant in 1956 awarded by Her Majesty the Queen. One of the most treasured notes in the brand archives is a note from Clarence House from the Dresser to Her Majesty the Queen Mother simply requesting ‘New Cardigan Please.’

Today, Pringle continues to be a pioneer of British knitwear and a champion of British heritage. In 2015, for its 200th anniversary, Pringle worked with National Museums Scotland to curate an exhibition charting Pringle’s long history within the Scottish knitwear industry and celebrating the relevance of knitwear in contemporary fashion. It is thanks to Robert Pringle and his humble hosiery manufacturers that knitwear has such a prominent place in the lives and wardrobes of men and women around the world.

Source Pringle Scotland

This piece certainly reflects the glory days of this particular brand, and still remains a popular brand with a new audience, in sport and streetwear offerings.