Designer known as Jean Varon who kitted out The Avengers’ Emma Peel
John Bates, who has died aged 87, rose to fame as the fashion designer Jean Varon and was acknowledged as one of the big names of British fashion in the 1960s and 1970s. His initial clean, modernist style was shown to best effect in the costumes he designed for Diana Rigg in her first season of The Avengers in 1965. He was also sometimes credited with being the true inventor of the miniskirt (he claimed as much himself), and he was way ahead of the pack with his exposed midriffs, daring see-through mesh dresses and the use of then unfamiliar materials such as PVC.
As the sixties turned into the seventies his designs became frillier and more flamboyant. His
Jean Varon label collection included maxi dresses with huge balloon sleeves, plunging necklines and bold prints, tiered gingham frocks, and floaty chiffon dresses that became known as ‘‘Margos’’ because they were worn by Penelope Keith in her role as Margo Leadbetter in television’s The Good Life.
His clients included celebrities such as Cilla Black (he designed the outfit she wore at her wedding to Bobby Willis in 1969), Siaˆ n Phillips, Elaine Stritch, Cleo Laine and Dusty Springfield. Princess Margaret wore Jean Varon on holiday in Mustique, while Princess Alexandra bought from his more upmarket John Bates label, established in 1974, which featured pure silks and wools, and luxury embellishments such as applique´ , embroidery and beading.
The middle of three sons of a miner, John Bates was born at Dinnington, near Newcastle, and realised from a young age that he was different from his brothers: ‘‘I was the one who didn’t like cricket or playing football with my father. I used to sit and read books.’’
Initially he wanted to be a newspaper reporter, but when he could not get a job at the local newspaper he moved to London, where he did National Service in the War Office.
Bates was not sure what he wanted to do afterwards but when he told a friend how he had quite enjoyed sketching clothes for his mother when he was a boy, the friend took some of his sketches to the couturier Herbert Sidon of Sloane Street, who agreed to take him on.
After two years Bates decided to tout his sketches round fashion wholesalers, only to find that they all wanted cutters; Sidon had not taught him how to cut. His luck changed when, walking down Edgware Road, he was waylaid by a couple of Irish businessmen. ‘‘They . . . said, ‘We’ve been looking all over for you, we would like to set up a boutique because it’s all fallen through with Herbert Sidon, are you interested?’ ’’
The result was a new fashion label which Bates called Jean Varon because at the time an English name was not considered elegant enough. It was launched in 1959 with the aim of producing designs a secretary could afford and teenage girls would want to wear.
His earliest designs were elegant and simple Empire line frocks, made in numerous vivid colour ranges. He also started designing dresses and skirts that ended just above the knee – only to find that stores would not touch them unless he lengthened the hemlines.
But his designs caught the eye of a buyer from Wallis who went on to order his entire collection. It caused a sensation: ‘‘Most girls had their mothers buying them something to wear. The girls were thinking ‘Oh! I’m looking like my bloody mother, now! . . . so when the skirts hit the shops the mini-skirts were suddenly being scooped up.’’
His designs were soon being featured in magazines and newspaper fashion pages, and Wallis gave him his own line in the stores – John Bates at Wallis. There followed concessions in Harrods and Harvey Nichols.
In 1965 an editor from Queen magazine, who had been asked to organise a series of ‘‘action woman’’ costumes for the upcoming season of The Avengers TV series, came bursting into his office. ‘‘They were due to start filming in a week. I hadn’t seen Diana Rigg before. She came into the room, she was tall but didn’t have a skinny model figure . . .
‘‘I wanted to put her into little bra tops and hipster trousers. She was wonderful – I liked her. She wasn’t made up, she was natural.’’
His designs – most memorably the slinky catsuits – worn by the actress for her role as Emma Peel in The Avengers, brought Bates worldwide recognition, and in a brilliant marketing move he produced a collection of Avengers-inspired clothes available in shops as the programmes were screened.
He only designed the clothes for Diana Rigg’s first season in the series, however, as he found working for TV a trial.
As Bates became more successful he created other labels – a Capricorn range of coats and suits, a rainwear label, and in 1974 his John Bates label for haute couture. During the 1970s his floaty, comfortable maxi-dresses were a must on the dinner-party circuit.
By the early 1980s, however, his own label had fallen into bankruptcy and he decided to leave the mainstream fashion world.
Bates was a shy man and not a natural habitue´ of the cocktail party circuit, but he was kind and generous to young designers. He retired to Wales, where he began to paint, showing his work at exhibitions.
His designs are much sought after by vintage fashion enthusiasts, his 1970s maxidresses fetching hundreds of pounds.
He is survived by his partner, John Siggins.
‘‘I wanted to put her into little bra tops and hipster trousers. She was wonderful.’’
John Bates on designing clothes for Diana Rigg in her role as Emma Peel, above, in The Avengers