During the 1920s womens beachwear went through a radical change. The bathing dresses worn by the Victorians and Edwardians were replaced with a shorter, more revealing one-piece suit designed for sun bathing. One of Royal Doultons most celebrated artists, Leslie Harradine, captured this new fashion in his collection of bathing beauties. Like many artists sculpting during the art deco period, Harradine also modeled nudes, each creatively draped in brilliant colors of fabric. Due to of their short production run, these early Harradine deco-inspired figures are some of the rarest figures on the market.
In 2000, Royal Doulton modeler Nada Pedley interpreted these classic Harradine designs and re-launched them in her own collection, Bathers. This tribute collection captures all the beautiful details of the original figures created by Leslie Harradine during the roaring 20s.
Leslie Harradine gives us Royal Doulton’s Bathers series inspired by ladies’ swimsuit fashions of the art deco era, each with their own personality and style.
