Fanny Buss

Frances Edith Cresswell (née Buss, 23 March 1910 – 5 June 1986), commonly known as Fanny Buss, was a textile and fashion designer from New Zealand active from the 1950s to the 1980s.[1][2] Buss was also a printmaker, writer and book illustrator. Examples of her fashion designs are held in the collections of museums around New Zealand including in the Auckland War Memorial Museum,[3] Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa,[4] Otago Museum,[5] MTG Hawke's Bay[6] and also feature in the New Zealand Fashion Museum.[7] Buss was a working member of the Canterbury Society of the Arts.[8]

Fanny Buss
Fanny Buss screenprinting in 1964
Born
Frances Edith Buss

(1910-03-23)23 March 1910
Christchurch, New Zealand
Died5 June 1986(1986-06-05) (aged 76)
EducationCanterbury College School of Art
Known forFashion design, writer, printmaking and business entrepreneur
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1932; died 1960)​

Early life and family

Buss was born in Christchurch on 23 March 1910, the daughter of George Howard Buss and Frances Ethel Buss (née Pilbrow) who were farming at Scargill in North Canterbury.[1][9][10][11] As a child she boarded in Christchurch and Timaru before studying at the Canterbury College School of Art.[1] In 1929 she lived in a "cheap bedsit" with Rita Angus and Jessie Lloyd.[12]

In 1932, Buss married Douglas Cresswell,[13] and the couple went on to have four children.[1]

Career

Buss started printing fabric in the 1950s. She began with potato blocks then moved on to wood blocks and later screen printing. She started by selling table mats, curtains and beach shirts, which provided an income for her family.[1] Buss labeled her garments with her maiden name. In the 1970s her dresses and coats were worn by New Zealand's first Māori woman cabinet minister, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan.[14]

Death

Buss died on 5 June 1986.[11] She had been predeceased by her husband in 1960.[1]

Bibliography
  • Eight Christchurch schools. Cresswell, Douglas. Christchurch. Pegasus Press. 1956 (illustrator)
  • Some Canterbury Churches. Warren, Doreen. Pegasus Press. 1957 (illustrator)
  • Old homes of Lyttelton Harbour Christchurch. Pegasus Press. 1966. (writer and illustrator)
  • Christchurch Sketch Book. Christchurch. Fanny Buss Studios. 1972 (writer and illustrator)

References
  1. Dix, Kelly (July 2019). "Fanny Buss". nzfashionmuseum.org.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  2. Metzger, Jamie (17 March 2016). "2016 ID Fashion Week: Stylish Hākui". Otago Museum. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  3. "dress". www.aucklandmuseum.com. 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  4. "Fanny Buss". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  5. "Fanny Buss". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  6. "New Zealand Fashion Museum". www.nzfashionmuseum.org.nz. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  7. "Belted dress with print detail – Fanny Buss". www.nzfashionmuseum.org.nz. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  8. "Autumn Exhibition 1961" (PDF). christchurchartgallery.org.nz. 1961. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  9. "Birth". Lyttelton Times. 28 March 1910. p. 1. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  10. "Birth search: registration number 1910/17271". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  11. "Death search: registration number 1986/33712". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  12. "NZ On Screen". Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  13. "Marriage search: registration number 1932/1621". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  14. Wratislav, Elizabeth (2014). Whetu Tirakatene-Sullivan: Travel in Style. Napier: MTG Hawke's Bay. ISBN 9780992259679.
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