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Derby
My recent visit to Derby to discuss fashion research at London College of Fashion prompted a great deal of discussion about the future of UK manufacturing, particularly considering the current economic circumstances. Derby has a wonderful heritage – it is in many ways the historic heart of the Industrial Revolution and was always central to… →
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Beauty and Brutality (Wallace Collection)
Fashion is sometime like water, it is forever seeping into all aspects of our lives sometimes in surprising ways. The exhibition at the Wallace Collection- The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe is a prime example of this. Fight Book Detail- Ridolfo Capo Ferro, Gran Simulatero dell’arte e dell’uso della… →
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Ballgowns (V&A)
Gown by Victor Edelstein, 1986. Worn and given by Lady Heseltine. Museum no. T.264-2001. Image © David Hughes 2011 Fashion is often accused of being frivolous, ephemeral and unnecessary. It is not essential to our survival as human beings. Perhaps it is a sign that times are peaceful, that we are able to create and… →
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“Perhaps in reaction to this onslaught of globalisation, regional and national identities are now cherished as never before. This is especially evident in ‘the West’, where we crave sushi from Japan, batik prints from Java, kung foo movies from Hong Kong, tango from Argentina, beaded jewellery from East Africa etc precisely for their cultural otherness,the… →
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Yayoi Kusama (Tate Modern)
This week I visited the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at Tate Modern. As originally a fine artist, I have always been inspired by the works of female artists such as Frida Khalo and Louise Bourgeois. Kusama’s is a unique and seminal Japanese artist. Still working today in her late 80s, she has collaborated with artists such… →
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Boudicca
For some years Boudicca (aka Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby) have had a close relationship with London College of Fashion, contributing to conferences, projects and helping in the selection of students for catwalk shows. Well known nationally and internationally for the quality of their tailoring, use of fabrics and of technology – in particular film… →
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Better Lives: Expanding our Thinking
The thinking behind fashion as a discipline needs to extend and expand its influence, to counter the traditional stereotype of fashion as a light weight subject, not quite worthy of research and instead to clearly make the case and set the pace for developing areas of research that extend fashion’s influence – issues that will… →
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Beauty of Age: The Debate
In preparing for the Beauty of Age debate tonight, a number of themes have emerged that have really set me wondering as to where our contemporary emphasis on equating youth with beauty will lead. For example, growing interest in the ancient fairy tale, Snow White. Currently a number of films, ballets and television programmes are… →
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The Psychology of Consumption
Gaby Hinsliff writing in the Guardian (11 April 2012) challenges us to consider the “viability of the everyday habits to which we feel blithely entitled” and asks the question “when will the stigma now attached to rampant consumerism spread to the over consumption of natural resources?” My visit this week to Sheffield University’s Psychology Department… →