Jean Varon
Jean Varon, the iconic British 60s and 70s label helmed by John Bates.
By Ellen Stewart on Monday 6th February, 2012
He popularised trousers for women and encouraged the first ‘underwear as outerwear’ style through precision cutting and the use of lace and mesh. As early as 1962, was designing high-fashion plastic garments. Yet for all his innovation, John Bates remains far less appreciated than his famous contemporaries, such as Mary Quant and Ossie Clark.
Possibly one of the greatest forgotten talents of the 60s and 70s, Bates' intention was to produce good fashion design that could be afforded on a secretary’s wage. With no formal training, he took an apprenticeship at London couturier Herbert Sidon in the late 50s.
Speaking of his decision to work under the name Jeans Varon, Bates said: “I called it Jean Varon because at the time an English name like John Bates meant nothing; you had to appear to be French. Jean is French for John and Varon because there was no ‘V’ in the rag trade book. Jean Varon made a good graphic image.”
His early looks were bold and innovative with Space-Age fabrics, see-through panels, cutout holes and matching accessories and brightly coloured tights.
One of Bates' most influential champions was Marit Allen, the editor of British Vogue's Young Ideas spread, who considered Bates the true inventor of the miniskirt, rather than Mary Quant or André Courrèges. Ernestine Carter also observed Bates' originality, noting that the Paris fashion collections for 1967 contained many looks which Bates had done first.
His groundbreaking design won him the ‘Dress of The Year’ title in 1965, the garment was subsequently donated to the Fashion Museum in Bath, which in 2006 held a major retrospective show of his work.
Bates’ reputation earned him the ultimate commission — designing the wardrobe for The Avengers character Emma Peel, played by actress Diana Rigg, for half a season in 1965-66. His bold op-art motifs, mini-skirts, trousers and feminine eveningwear injected glamour and youth into the super spy heroine character of Peel.
By 1965, copies of these clothes were on sale, and the leather outfits and the white vinyl coats were very popular. Another of his well-known dresses was the one Julie Christie wore in the film ‘Shampoo’. In 1965, he brought out his ‘Bikini’ dress where two halves were joined together with transparent netting.
Throughout the 60s and 70s Bates’ pieces moved towards a softer, feminine look. At the same time as creating for Varon he designed for an own-name label, which was more avant garde and innovative.
In 1973 he designed the famous backless evening dress and from the 70's onwards, eveningwear played a major part of his collections. However, in 1980 Bates’ own label liquidized and he decided to leave the mainstream fashion business.
He is now working as an artist and living in Wales. The Varon label carried on into the 80s, with designer Tom Bowker. There are still a few gems to be found from this era, but it is the Bates work that is collectible.
John Bates was acknowledged as one of the big four names of British fashion in the 70s along with Jean Muir, Bill Gibb and Zandra Rhodes. Nowadays, however, his name is less well known amongst the fashion conscious, although ‘Jean Varon’ is a name with which some are still familiar.
