Hall Ludlow Collection

Full description

Often described as Australia’s first couturier, New-Zealand-born Hall Clarence Ludlow (1919-2022) arrived in Australia in 1948, where he rapidly built a reputation for his stylish and sophisticated custom-made designs for women’s day and evening wear. As a young man he sketched and stitched garments in his spare time, while working as a farm labourer, and then a grease boy in a garage. Then in 1942, having failed the military medical examination, he secured a position with the fashion entrepreneur, Julia Yates, in her Auckland salon, Trilby Yates Pty. During the war years, Yates and her flamboyant design team produced garments from repurposed upholstery fabrics, linen tea towels and jersey destined for men’s underwear. In 1948 Hall moved to Australia, arriving in Sydney, then moving to Melbourne. After a brief partnership with Peter Charles in 1950, by 1951 he had established a salon ‘Hall Ludlow Haute Couture’ at the ‘Paris” end of Collins Street in Melbourne. After the austerity of the war years, Ludlow offered his wealthy clientele custom-made fashion using the finest fabrics available. His designs were unique, inspired by international trends in women’s fashion. Paule Paulus, a former mannequin at the Christian Dior Salon in Paris, agreed to model his first collection. Ludlow won the prestigious Australian Gown of the Year awards in 1955 and 1959, and in 1959 the Australian Wool Board invited him to create a collection to showcase Australian wool in London, and then in Lausanne, Switzerland. His garments were immortalized in photographs by leading photographers such as Athol Shmith and Helmut Newton. Melbourne’s top mannequins, such as Diane Masters and Maggie Tabberer modelled his garments. After a brief stay in New York in 1960, Ludlow moved to Sydney, establishing a salon that was managed by Maggie Tabberer. From 1963 until 1972 Ludlow was based in Hong Kong, where he produced collections that were shown in America and Europe, and designed garments for Hollywood stars. He returned to Sydney in 1973, where he worked for the remainder of his life. In 1994 a tribute exhibition was staged at David Jones as part of the Melbourne International Festival. Ludlow died in 2003, and in 2005 the RMIT Gallery hosted the exhibition Dressed to the Eyes: the fashions of Hall Ludlow. His garments have been collected by the NGV, the Museum of Victoria and the MAAS Museum in Sydney.

There are four related donations, the most comprehensive is 0018.2009, includes documents, artefacts and audiovisual records compiled by Diane Masters. This donation includes 25 boxes of material, largely organized into material type. Of note are several albums of Hall Ludlow’s sketches from the 1980s, and original photographs by Athol Shmith and Helmut Newton. Also held are research notes for Diane Master’s proposed but unpublished biography of Hall Ludlow, In addition there are three garments designed by Hall Ludlow and worn by Diane Masters held in 0008.2016; 6 boxes of toiles held in 0008.2009, and two boxes of trimming samples and toiles (some with named clients) held in 0024.2006. Inventories are available for each donation.