The Anglo-Bolivian Society (A-BS) was founded on 15 May 1992 at the Bolivian Embassy in London by Ambassador Major General Gary Prado Salmón and held its first Annual General Meeting on 6 October 1992. Peter Lewis-Crown was appointed Vice Chairman, having been introduced to the society by Marta Bosacoma, the embassy’s First Secretary.
Peter remained an A-BS council member for the subsequent 30 years, a commitment recognized, while he was still in office, with a special expression of gratitude to him during the A-BS 25th anniversary celebration in the Interparliamentary Union rooms at the Houses of Parliament in October 2017, stating: “Peter Lewis-Crown OBE has been with us from the very beginning. We would like to thank him very much for his generosity, wisdom, guidance, sense of humour, time-keeping and mentoring.” He later received a special honours award at the A-BS 30th anniversary celebration at the IPU room in October 2022, though by then he was not sufficiently well to attend the party.
Peter was long involved in fundraising events for leading charities and on 15 June 1988 he received an OBE for his charity work and contribution to the fashion industry.
Peter was born on 18 April 1930 in Hunstanton, north Norfolk, where his father was the local barber and his mother – who influenced Peter’s love of clothes – had a ladies’ dress shop. After World War 2 he secured a place at the Chelsea School of Commercial Art, where he studied until his passion for fashion design propelled him into the industry, beginning work at the House of Lachasse in January 1949.
Lachasse had been founded in 1926 and provided its well-connected clientele with impeccably tailored day and evening wear. Peter was to spend his entire working career at Lachasse, becoming its director in 1964 and subsequently its sole owner, dressing several generations of women. His memoir, House of Lachasse: The Story of a Very English Gentleman, paints an amusing picture of the life of a designer of timelessly elegant clothes (for some very well-connected figures) working in the London of Carnaby Street, Biba, hippie, punk, 80s and grunge fashion.
During most of his career he also taught a fashion-drawing evening class at St. Martin’s School of Art, where several generations of students remember him fondly. Peter was an outspoken supporter of future talent, hoping that his story would inspire young people to go out into the world, work hard and achieve something special.
Peter’s funeral was held on 3 October at St. Mary’s Church, Old Hunstanton, near his north Norfolk birthplace. A memorial service will be held in London later this year. His friends in the Anglo-Bolivian community will miss him very much.
The Anglo-Bolivian Society 