| Description | Long-line blouse with integral drawstring tie-belt, three quarter length sleeves and wide collar, buttoning to neck with six buttons. Matching skirt with zip side opening. Size 18. Bernat Klein label in back of neck of blouse and in waistband of skirt. Made from screen-printed printed polyester fabric, retailed as Diolen, in soft yellow and pink shades.
Diolen ® was a luxury polyester textile yarn with built-in crimp properties produced exclusively 1972-1980 by Teesside Textiles Ltd., a fibre manufacturer majority owned by Enka Glanzstoff (Enka from 1977) the developer of Diolen. The crimp effect produced a bulky fabric well suited to use in lightweight fashion clothing. Diolen was not as strong in tensile strength as Kevlar but otherwise reasonably close in performance. Designed to meet the demands of the 1970s, it had the feel and drape of silk, yet was washable and non-crease. Diolen could be bought by mail order from Bernat Klein Design or from their Galashiels shop, either in the form of ready-made clothes or sold by the yard. Bernat Klein offered Diolen in two forms: limited edition prints inspired by Bernat Klein paintings, which were usually of nature and the Scottish Borders Landscape, printed onto 9oz firmly knitted Diolen or co-ordinating plains "specially dyed in colours to co-ordinate with the Limited Edition prints and Tweeds". For more information see Fashion Catalogue and Colour Book ref. BK 10/2.
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