One of the visits on our London Textile Tour is to the Fashion and Textile Museum and the studio of British fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes. With her shocking pink hair and dresses decorated punk-style with safety pins, she burst into a fashion era that was named for its raw energy – “Swinging London”. An exceptional creator, her inventive prints followed the contours of the body in a unique way and combined age-old techniques – from American Indian tribal patterns, through Japanese calligraphy to Australian Aboriginal markings – Zandra was a mistress of modernity. Decades before the digital era, she studied at the Royal College of Art, London, and ultimately revolutionised print, producing effects were entirely original.
Zandra Rhodes designs have graced the wardrobes of Diana Ross, Debbie Harry, Freddie Mercury, Princess Diana and Princess Anne amongst many others. She founded the Fashion and Textile Museum in London and was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2015. Her book, which runs alongside the Fashion & Textile Museum’s current exhibition “Fifty Fabulous Years in Fashion” charts her incredible career with full colour photographs and text from various fashion industry luminaries.