And the best thing is, you could win it, writes Sarah Hickinbotham THE name George Davies is synonymous with High Street fashion.
His achievements include the founding of clothing chain Next, the creation of Asda’s ever-popular George range and also Per Una at Marks and Spencer, which has supermodel Twiggy among its fans.
But even after more than 50 years in retailing, the “king of the High Street” is still finding new ways to challenge himself.
The 69-year-old, one of Broadway’s most famous residents, has created his very first couture dress.
Inspired by John Singer Sargent’s painting Madame X, the silk velvet and taffeta creation will be raffled off along with a diamond necklace as part of a £3,500 prize fund for the Broadway Arts Festival, which launches tomorrow.
George said he was asked to get involved with the festival by his friends Barry Hancox and Andrew Riley, owners of Russell’s restaurant.
“I thought, ‘they have art at the festival, I don’t see where I fit in really, I’m fashion’,” he said.
“But I looked at the John Singer Sargent website and the surprising bit was he did fabulous portraits of women in these dresses.
“The more I studied it, seeing these dresses, the more I thought it was right up my street. As a designer, I’m always looking for inspiration – you need a starting point.”
It took George and his team at his Draycott studios four weeks to create the dress, making changes up until midnight last Thursday.
The stunning black gown features a full taffeta skirt, the length of which can be adjusted at the back, and a silk velvet bodice with jewelled straps.
The winner will be invited to George’s studios to have the dress fitted to their exact measurements.
The designer said he was delighted with the finished product.
“Having a prize draw meant anybody could own it. It’s not just about people who can afford it – that’s important,” he said.
“It’s always fantastic to do things you haven’t done before. It doesn’t matter how big or small, whether someone is a celebrity or not.
“We can’t just make the dress and say we’re finished. We’ve got to make sure we’ve got more material because we don’t know the size of the person.”
Although approaching his 70th birthday, the father-of-seven is showing no signs of slowing down.
After launching 24 stores for his new women’s clothing brand GIVe last October – “that was hard work, but I always do that” – George will embark on yet another mammoth opening of 60 branches of his new retail chain, FG4, in the Middle East later this year.
And while his career has been entirely of his own making, George admitted it was a chance invitation to dinner with a friend which would lead to the north Cotswolds becoming his home of 20 years.
George, who was born to a farming family on the outskirts of Liverpool, said: “Certainly it wasn’t an area I knew at all. Broadway wouldn’t have been a place that I visited. I came here one evening after work and I visited Stow. I was a little early so I had a walk around and I thought ‘this is amazing, what have I been doing with my life!’ “I just thought it was a wonderful place to live and within three months I was looking for somewhere.”
Broadway Arts Festival runs from June 11-20. The inaugural event is a celebration of John Singer Sargent and the Broadway Colony.
Raffle tickets cost £5, the proceeds of which will go to the festival, and will be available throughout the fortnight. For more details, visit broadwayartsfestival.com.
