Tongoro

The latest theme for the The Tuesday Collective drawing challenge on Instagram is 'Tongoro', which is a high end African brand that was launched in 2016 by Sarah Diouf. Her style includes dramatic silhouettes in bold prints and her creations have been worn by celebrities such as Beyonce and Naomi Campbell. You can find more on Instagram here.

This is my interpretation of the Tongoro style. I chose a bold dress with a fabulous black and white design and used an orange background for drama.

The dress I chose to draw is called the Jana dress and is made from a black and white wavy printed fabric. It has oversize bell sleeves and a ruched bodice.

Ann Lowe illustration

The prompt word for last week's drawing challenge from @thetuesdaycollective on Instagram was "Ann Lowe" who was the first African-American to become a renowned fashion designer. Her unique designs were worn by high-society, including Jackie O. I chose to draw the neckline of this debutante dress, but gave it an updated look.

This dress was designed in 1967 and I was drawn to the trailing rosebuds that adorn the neckline of this simple white taffeta dress. The rosebuds are made from red velvet and the leaves and stems are made from a green silk fabric.

From the front, the dress is a simple princess line style, and the white taffeta makes a great background for the rosebuds to stand out.

From the back, the dress has this stunning rose bouquet that starts in the small of the back and trails down the back of the dress.

 

Dries Van Noten heaven

As a textile designer and colour lover, it's always great to see pattern and colour on the catwalk and Dries Van Noten is perfect at carrying the two off to beautiful excess. His latest collection is a nod to “nocturnal glamour” and the glam of the ’70s and ’80s fashions. His inspiration was a contemporary party girl, combining casual with glamour. He applied a selection of acid greens and fuchsia jungle prints to fluid pyjama shapes and added '90s grunge-influenced plaids to brightly coloured floral trousers. There was an amazing array of colour and mixed up prints, such as oversized floral trousers mixed with an acid green floral trench coat. As the show went on, the colour intensified with deep purple shades, emerald velvet, deco prints and even fabulous snakeskin boots. Heaven!

Zandra Rhodes - 50 Years of Fabulous

Zandra Rhodes' fashion career has survived for 50 years and she is one of the few fashion designers who also creates all her own textile prints. She has kept to her distinctive style throughout her career and the Fashion and Textile Museum now has an exhibition, showcasing her work from the very beginning. I went down there on Friday to check it out and really enjoyed it. The exhibition space is small, but they have packed it with an eclectic mix of garments, with at least one garment from each year of her career.

Zandra's own look matches her fashion style, with her bright pink hair and dramatic makeup.

Seeing the garments displayed like this shows the many styles, eras and cultures that Zandra was inspired by. Just in this photo, you can see Indian influences and 1930s influences.

This pink silk chiffon dress is hand-beaded and comes from the 'Fairy' collection. The dress has been screen printed with buttons and bows and a troupe l'oeil bow decoration. The collection was inspired by the Flower Fairy illustrations of Cicely Mary Barker.

This pretty padded evening jacket is from the 'Shell' collection where the shape of the jacket was dictated by the shape of the print. The base of the jacket is gathered into a padded quilted pink border.

This silk chiffon evening dress is from Zandra's Mexican collections. The deep V-neckline is edged with a pleated and frilled collar and is held closed with lacing and enamelled flower beads. The full length of the skirt is printed with a Mexican banana leaf pattern.

Most of Zandra's designs are bright and colourful, but this stunning dress is all black and includes an embellishment of peacock feathers carefully placed on very sheer black chiffon.

This short satin purple dress was digitally printed with her 'Jungle Trail' print. Rhodes is known for her hand screen-printed designs, but has also explored new processes and techniques, enjoying the challenges involved.

This dress is printed with her 'Giant Fantastic Flowers' print. The neckline is a circle shape that has been created by cutting out the centre of one of the flower motifs. The dress was created in 1988 but uses a 1960s sensibility. Flowers are a recurring motif in Rhodes's work and they are always bold and bright, often inspired by the artist Henri Matisse.

This raw silk mini dress is from the 1991 'Flower Power' collection and is embellished with decorative stitching and appliqué flowers, made from ribbon, rope and wooden beads.

The upstairs area of the exhibition had a wonderful selection of Rhodes's hanging prints. I especially loved this chiffon pink piece.

One of the keys to Zandra's designs is her knowledge of the processes of printing and designing and she makes it all look effortless, even though each garment is carefully thought out and takes months of planning. Above you can see her at work in her studio. Once the design has been decided, it is painted onto a frosted acetate film, called a kodatrace - below.

That design is then exposed onto silk screens (below) - one screen for each colour.

The design is first tested on paper to make sure the design registers and that the screen works well.

It was great to be able to look up close and see her annotations.

Below is the finished item printed onto a stunning pink chiffon panel.

The finished garment is stunning, using a pink print for the bodice.

The skirt of the dress is cut in layers and uses the shape of the curved print to create the curve of the design of the dress with a resulting ethereal feel.

Up close you can see beading and embellishment that has been added.

This lovely exhibition is on at the Fashion and Textile Museum until 26th January 2020.

Mary Katrantzou

As a textile designer myself, Mary Katrantzou is a fashion designer who truly inspires me. She has been dubbed 'The Queen of Print' and incorporates stunning print and colour into all of her collections using digital printing, an eclectic mix of fabrics, and design inspiration from around the world. On Sunday I visited Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, the opulent home of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, where there is currently a temporary exhibition in the Stables, called Creatures and Creations. 

The exhibition includes some of the works of Mary Katrantzou and the exhibition shows an amalgamation of fashion, digital art and animal specimens inspired by Rothschild's collection of natural history.

Each of the three dresses were inspired by birds and butterflies and use stunning colour combined with digital print and layers of varying fabrics and beads to create beautiful items.

The Delias dress above is a triple-tiered and pleated lame corset dress with tulle underskirts and pleated lame and tulle butterfly on the breast.

The Alexandra dress above is printed crepe with a velvet neck insert, embroidered with Swarovski crystals, sequins and bugle beads using lurex thread, with heat-transferred crystal motifs.

The Papillon dress above is a printed tulle gown embroidered with sequins and bugle beads, with eleven layers of tulle underskirts.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

I finally made it to the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V & A Museum and it was stunning! I've been dying to see it for ages and it was well worth the wait. This is the first retrospective of his work to be shown in Europe and includes pieces from his graduate show, right through to his final collection Autumn/Winter 2010. Not surprisingly the exhibition was displayed with drama and a sense of spectacle, with each collection shown in a different room and a setting befitting the clothing it showcased.

McQueen left school at 15 to become an apprentice on Saville Row and then went on to study fashion at Central Saint Martins where he learned how to be a fashion designer. This combination of highly proficient and inventive tailoring, mixed with a sense of inspirational and highly original fashion design, meant that each collection was a masterpiece. And they were stunning to see up close where you get to see his workmanship and tailoring as well as attention to detail and, of course the surreal and dark elements that gave him his trademark look.

Dark Gothic feathers and a smudge of red lipstick against pale white skin.
Birds and feather motifs became an inspiration for a few of his collections.

Mc Queen returns to his ancestral roots with a line of tartan outfits accessorised with stunning face masks decorated with Swarovski crystals.

These collections were shown in display cases reminiscent of a Victorian museum and included the ghostly bride as centre stage with floor length tiered antique lace and an antler headpiece.

His Spring/Summer 2001 collection  included the reworked kimono in richly-embroidered silk. Each item was displayed in a mirrored booth as if in a music box.

The famous spray-painted dress from his Spring/Summer 1999 show was centre stage in one room, surrounded by endless items of clothing and accessories from his shows and displayed as if in a cabinet of curiosities. There were also many different screens showing his fashion shows over the years, each one was so theatrical. I could have spent hours in this room.

The Spring/Summer 2010 collection was his final, and is beautifully space-age and sculptured with prints inspired by reptile skin. This was where his famous 'Armadillo' shoe was first shown.

Beautiful brights

I love the designs of Roksanda Ilincic, the Serbian-born, London-based fashion designer who creates effortless elegance using an amazing array of juicy colours. You can choose from a selection of stunning column gowns with plunging backs to asymmetrical cocktail dresses, all beautifully draped from silks and satins in rich hues of tangerine, aqua and amethyst.

You can see more of her designs here.

Nice Pear

I had some time to kill today and suddenly found myself in the heavenly shop that is Itoya. It's in the heart of Ginza and a mecca for anyone who loves any kind of paper product or anything to use with paper. It is spread out over 7 floors and sells anything from traditional washi paper, stationary, to pens etc. I picked up some beautiful cards by Eleanor who is a designer/illustrator who creates stunning graphic posters and cards as well as designing your website if you so desire. You can check out her website here for more fab finds.

Michael Van Der Ham

I've only just become aware of Michael Van Der Ham - a Dutch designer who has recently finished a course at Central Saint Martins in London. His autumn/winter '11 show was stunning with its lusciously coloured, rich velvets, but I am more interested in his Spring/Summer '11 collection that showed last September at London's Fashion week. His trademark technique is to take a mishmash of elements and weave them together. In this collection he mixed different lengths and types of draping as well as fabrics and prints, using juicy colour palettes to bring them all together.