S. London Ltd., furrier : records

Brochures (ca. 1920 - ca. 1965); certificates (1928 - 1934); photograph albums including photographs of annual meetings of the Fur Trade, furs, premises and staff (ca.1930 - ca.1966); correspondence (1935 - ca. 1939); publicity photographs including photographs by Peter Clark and John French (ca. 1940 - ca. 1966); diary (1948); reference material from other furriers (1949 - 1966); printed ephemera (ca. 1950 - ca. 1960); show programmes of S. London and other fashion houses (ca. 1950 - ca. 1966); tearsheets (ca. 1950 - 1968); leaflets (1950s - 1960s); press cuttings (1952 - ca. 1968); envelopes (ca. 1954 - ca. 1965); publicity display boards (1954 - 1967); invitations to view S. London collections (1959 - 1967); leaflets advertising sales (1960s); trade cards (1960s); periodicals (1964 - 1966); Christmas cards (undated); woven labels (undated); designs and sketches (ca. 1930s - 1960s).

S. London Ltd, the furriers, was founded by Solomon London, born Solomon Loundin (1891 - 1966) the son of a rabbi in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus). When he was 15 he was sent to relatives in Paris to escape the pogroms. There he was employed in the fur trade, first with Grunwald, later Jungmann and then with Beschoff David. He moved to London in 1914 together with his wife, Sarah, another Russian emigre and became a furrier with Revillon. He soon opened his own workshop, the output of which was absorbed by the retailers Debenham and D.F. Cox. In 1927 he moved to Regent Street and employed a staff of 75 who produced over 350 mink coats annually. He became a member of the London Fur Trade Association in 1928. The firm of S. London was incorporated in 1934. It moved to Sloane Street, Knightsbridge in 1948 and became a high class retail salon selling to a private clientele. In the 1950s the firm's seasonal shows also displayed the work of the haute couturier Charles Creed and the milliner Simone Mirman. Solomon London was elected an Associate of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers in 1956. In the early 1960s he collaborated with Mary Quant on a collection of fashionable pop furs. After his death in 1966 much of his stock was acquired by Harvey Nichols, which held a half-price sale of his 'fabulous furs' in 1967. The firm transferred to 39 Dover Street and was incorporated with that of Furs Reně Ltd on 15 January 1968.

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Study Rooms by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These restrictions are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Given by R. Jacobs, 1994, AAD/1994/05.

Transferred from the V&A Textiles and Fashion department, 2011, AAD/2011/15.

Cataloguing supported by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of The David Berg Foundation, New York.

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.