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.

 

Queen of Hearts

The latest collection from Alexander McQueen is bold and heroic, drawing influences from Welsh history and culture. The basis of the show started when designer, Sarah Burton, visited St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff and the Wrexham Tailor's Quilt caught her eye. The quilt had been made at night, over a ten year period, by a tailor who used recycled scraps of the uniforms he made during the day. The quilt uses scenes from the Bible as well as images of the impending  Industrial Revolution that was threatening the very idea of handcraft at that time. Burton took this starting point to create sharp tailoring combined with upcycled wool flannels from past McQueen collections.

The asymmetrical styles combined swathed wools with structured leather.

Beautifully soft leather was draped like silk into a vibrantly coloured dress.

Upcycled wools pieced together to create a modern version of a patchwork coat dress.

Intricately quilted coat dress in pretty pink.

The quilted soft pink skirt was a great contrast to the sharply tailored black jacket.

Traditional Welsh lace was combined with tailored black leather.

And a new take on the white Welsh lace - hot red!

The last pieces of the collection involved 'birds nest' evening dresses combining frothy net and embroidery.

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.

Delicious Dior

I had the great pleasure of going to the highly anticipated Dior exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum last week. The V&A has become well known for its impressive temporary exhibitions and I knew this one was going to be good!

Dior's first collection was launched in February 1947 with the now iconic New Look which used a silhouette of full skirts and nipped in waists. This was seen as very extravagant at the time when rations on fabric were still in place. This was the outfit that opened the exhibition.

In 1991, when John Galliano was designing for Dior, he created the outfit below which echos the style of the New Look, with a modern twist.

Christian Dior's designs played with structure and proportion to create clothes that powerfully expressed an attitude. He carefully considered movement, with each garment needing careful construction and workmanship.

Continuity between collections along with headline-grabbing looks meant the sustainability of the fashion house. I love the simple drama of this stunning red coat.

Dior often used historic references in his designs - the tight waists of the mid-19th century styles and the sumptuous silks of the 18th century. 

Many of the dresses created by Dior and his successors drew on the lavish style of the court dress worn at Versailles. The dress below, designed by Galliano uses gold thread, blue feathers and Swarovski crystals.

As a young man, Dior travelled a lot and from the launch of his first collection he took inspiration from the architecture, landscapes, art and textiles or different countries and cities.

This outfit was inspired by Egypt and uses pieces of turquoise leather to create a scale effect.

Asian countries also influenced Dior, from Japanese kimonos above, to Chinese silks below.

I love this stunning red coat designed by Raf Simons. The style is a nod to the full skirts and nipped in waist of the New Look and uses the colour red of the coat from his first collection. I love the inclusion of the ultra modern metal belt.

The outfit below uses a special technique to concertina the fabric of the skirt into tiny pleats.

The bow on the outfit below, designed by Gianfranco Ferre, is stunning. No need for bright colours as it speaks of itself.

The ateliers, or workrooms, are at the heart of Dior and it is where ideas are turned into exquisite haute couture designs. Once a design has been selected, it is taken to the atelier where a toile was made. This is a prototype garment and is usually made in white cotton fabric. This is when the fit and proportions etc are irned out in the toile garment before the real garment is made and this room in the Dior exhibition showed a number of toiles.

The toile below shows an intricately folded collar design with a hand drawn floral motif that has been pinned over the top to show where embroidery detailing would be used.

The purple garment below is the finished item.

The final room in the exhibition is called The Dior Ball and showcases what Dior does best - evening dresses. Throughout his career he enjoyed designing clothes to be worn at balls and fancy dress parties where he could indulge his imagination and show off the skills of the haute couture ateliers.

His extravagant creations combined skilful draping, intricate embroidery and stunning embellishment and he loved a bit of gold!

Dior's evening gowns often took finery and excess to the extreme.

Dior's successors have continued the excess that has become synonymous with the fashion house.

All these creations are housed in an ever-changing light show where day becomes night and opera and classical music set the scene.

The final creation in this show is an ethereal gown which sums up the style of Dior.