Vintage Designers We Love: Priscilla Kidder pg.2

Vintage Designers We Love Pg.2

John R. Burbidge
Senior Designer for Priscilla of Boston_TM to 1985

Les Petites Dames de Mode: An Adventure in Design
is a collection of Victorian and Edwardian gowns worn by 29-inch mannequins as created by John R. Burbidge, designer.

Tricia Nixon Bride Doll

Tricia and her Father on the White house lawn.

Resources: Life Magazine June 18^th 1971. Life Magazine August 19^th 1966. Modern Bride, The Bride Magazine and Brides Magazine 1949 to 1980. Additional Photography by Lauren Lavonne

The Priscilla of Boston_TMcompany achieved a well deserved reputation for sophisticated gowns from high quality materials. The popularity of the gowns and subsequent sales created a demand that forced the company to find talented designers to help fulfill an upscale clientele list. Priscilla Kidder stayed involved in the creative process, overseeing each sketch but spending a good portion of her time playing an active role in media coverage.

Priscilla's favored designer was John Burbidge, whose preference for exquisite lace gowns matched Mrs. Kidder's sophistication. John Burbidge designed wedding gowns for Priscilla of Boston from 1968 until 1985, but he began working for the company as a button maker in 1948. His Priscilla gowns are perhaps the best loved from this two decade period and his wedding designs remain unparalleled. Smithsonian example.

Priscilla of Boston 1971

The apex of John Burbidge's gown design was the 1971 wedding dress worn by President Nixon's daughter Tricia.

Extensive hand clipped lace can be seen pieced evenly over the sheer silk, most especially at the hem. Her inner slip is an opaque bridal skirt of minimal fullness, similar to a sheath. Burbidge's emphasis was placed on fabric and fit, and along with Tricia's choice of a simple bouquet, the overall effect of understated glamour was extremely chic.

Note how the gown is sleeveless, a design element that caused tongues to wag. Wearing a sleeveless gown for a White House wedding was an almost unheard of informality for a 1970's White House wedding.

The official Tricia Nixon Bridal portrait by photographer Dick Winburn was featured on the cover of Life Magazine on June 18th, 1971

an example of sheer sleeve and pieced lace and allover lace

John R. Burbidge was also my favorite of Priscilla of Boston designers. Born in 1922, he was educated at the same school as Priscilla Kidder, the New England School of Art and Design. He and Priscilla were close in age, and he began working at the Priscilla firm at early onset of the company, in 1948. Although he started with small tasks and eventually saw his way to the top, it is because of his creative genius and his designs, that he set the standard in a competitive, mercurial industry.
Burbidge reached design immortality in 1971 when he designed the wedding dress worn by President Nixon's daughter Tricia. Burbidge created a very daring (for the day) sleeveless silhouette of uncovered arms, almost unheard of for a formal Rose Garden wedding. The cutting edge design had a strong response from the media, though the gown was never duplicated by the company. Bare arms on a wedding silhouette would not be accepted by the bridal mainstream for nearly ten more years. One could say that as a wedding gown trendsetter, John Burbidge was ahead of his time.
Since retiring, Burbidge has made a second career designing and creating dolls in elegant historic costume, while his wife, Cile Bellefleur-Burbidge, designs and creates elegant and elaborate wedding cakes. Burbidge's book Les Petites Dames de Mode: An Adventure in Design ("the little ladies of fashion") can be purchased on Amazon.com

Priscilla of Boston 1982

Who said the 80's were over the top? Not John Burbidge, then head designer for Priscilla of Boston.

His silk faced peau and English net gown was neither stiff nor structured, allowing the garment to mold to the body and the wearer to feel like a princess.

With a King's ransom of lace, this gown is worth its weight in gold.

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