CLOTHES DESIGNERS

See Also: AND PERCY; ART COLLEGES; CLOTHES DESIGN ASSOCIATED; CLOTHES SHOPS; CLOTHES SHOPS, DISAPPEARED; TAILORS

In the 1960s the London had the nimbleness to be able to embrace the emergence of youth culture. Its Parisian counterpart did not have the same flexibility.

John Galliano

John Galliano was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father and a Spanish mother. The family moved to London when he was aged six. He studied at Central St Martins. His graduation show, Les Incroyables, was inspired by Abel Gance's silent movie Napoleon (1927). It was a great success.

Like Alexander McQueen, Galliano was able to do was to generate publicity through the brilliance and the outr ness of his designs. He had a talent for injecting a large element of drama into his runway shows. This made him popular with models. In the mid-1980s John Galliano was producing two collections a year.

The advent of globalisation and the Internet meant that he became an object of attention in a way that previous designers had not been. It was not something that he could have prepared himself for. In 2011 he severely damaged his career by making anti-Semitic remarks in La Perle, his local bar in Paris. At the time, he was overseeing 32 collections a year. Dior sacked him as its creative director.

The industry proved to have a short memory. After a break, the magazine editor Anna Wintour secured him a temporary post at Oscar De La Renta. He kept a low public profile for several years. In 2023 the documentary High & Low: John Galliano was released.

Katharine Hamnett

In 1984 Katharine Hamnett comprehensively upstaged Margaret Thatcher by attending a Downing Street reception, to which she had been invited, by wearing a T-shirt that was bore the slogan 58% Don t Want Pershing in large letters.

Location: 10 Downing Street, SW1A 2AA (orange, red)

See Also: NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Website: https://katharinehamnett.com

Alexander McQueen

Lee McQueen was raised in Stratford the pink sheep of his family. He was an apprentice in Savile Row, where he worked initially for Anderson & Sheppard. During his time there he took pleasure in incorporating an obscene graffito in the lining of a jacket that was being made for the Princes of Wales. Subsequently, he was employed by Gieves & Hawkes and then the theatrical costumiers Angels & Berman. This training left with a deep technical knowledge of tailoring. He worked overseas. In 1992 he returned to London and applied for a job as a cutting technician at Central St Martins. His portfolio so impressed the teaching staff that they persuaded him to enrol on the college's M.A. in fashion course. His 1994 graduation show caught the attention of Isabella Blow, who was a consulting stylist at British Vogue. He offered to sell her a coat for 350. She bought his entire graduation collection for 5000. The pair shared an irreverence for the hierarchy of the fashion industry. She paid for it in instalments of 100 a week. The clothes were delivered in bin bags. At her instigation, he took to using his middle name Alexander professionally.

During the 1995 London Fashion Week, McQueen showed his Highland Rape collection. This was intended as an antidote to the use of tartan by the likes of Vivienne Westwood. The ripped clothing and restraining accessories was misinterpreted by many of the attendees. As a result, some people chose to regard him as being a misogynist. McQueen's work contained a feminine survivor archetype that was both vulnerable and strong. It was based upon his eldest sister. Her first husband, Terence Hulyer, was violent towards. He also raped McQueen a number of times while the latter was still a child. As an adult was to find it had to maintain partner relationships. His own sexual tastes possessed an element of violence. McQueen created the bumster jeans, which left the upper buttock exposed.

In 1996 McQueen was named as the British designer of the year. The honour was also conferred upon him in 1997, 2001, and 2003.

In 1996 L.V.M.H. appointed McQueen to be Givenchy's head designer in succession to John Galliano. He took pleasure in incorporating technology into his catwalk shows. The Icelandic musician and singer Bj rk wore a McQueen garment for the cover of her album Homogenic (1997).

Blow introduced him to Tom Ford, who was revitalising Gucci as a fashion business. In 2000 Gucci Group acquired a 51% holing the Alexander McQueen label. The following year McQueen left Givenchy. He claimed that his contract was constraining his creativity.

Like John Galliano, Alexander McQueen was able to generate publicity through the brilliance and the outr ness of his designs. The advent of globalisation and the Internet meant that they became objects of attention in a way that previous designers had not been. It was not something that either man could have prepared himself for. Neither of them proved able to handle the situation in which they found themselves to be in.

Blow committed suicide in 2007. Three years later McQueen, mourning the recent death of his mother, did likewise.

Location: 76-78 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5QA (orange, purple)

See Also: CLOTHES DESIGN ASSOCIATED Fashion Journalism, Isabella Blow

Website: www.alexandermcqueen.com

Jean Muir

In 2007 it was announced that the Jean Muir business was being closed.

Location: 22 Bruton Street, W1J 6QE. Muir s workspace. (red, blue)

Thea Porter

Thea Porter (1927-2000) grew up in Syria and The Lebanon. She worked as an upholsterer. From that trade she migrated into being a clothes designer. Her output was informed by her knowledge of the materials and patterns that she chose to use. Those who were fashionably-inclined to Eastern elements took to her work. She opened a shop on Greek Street in 1966. Her garments were informed by appreciation of French fans, Indian handprints, Islamic embroidery, Ottoman velvets, and Swiss chiffons. She knew the difference between a kaftan, an abaya, a dashiki, and a djellaba. While her garments were covering, they were also flattering.

Porter s work featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates of Dawn (1967) album. The Beatles fitted out the Apple store with Porter designs.

In 1972 the Clothing Institute named Porter as its Designer of the Year.

Those who wore Porter's clothes included: Ann Barr (1929-2015), Joan Collins, Faye Dunaway, and Barbara Streisand. She was Elizabeth Taylor's favourite designer. In 1975 the movie star wore a Gina Fratini-designed kaftan-inspired dress for her second wedding to Richard Burton. The kaftan became an aspirational middle-class garment.

Location: 8 Greek Street, W1D 4DG (purple, yellow)

Zandra Rhodes

In 1964 Zandra Rhodes left the Royal College of Art. She took a part-time teaching job at Ravensbourne College. She went into partnership with Sylvia Ayton and together they opened the Fulham Road Clothes Shop. In 1968 Ayton was offered a job and Rhodes went solo. In 1969 she showed her first solo collection. The year she opened a shop on the Fulham Road.

In 1972 Rhodes opened a shop off Bond Street. She designed clothes for the band Queen. In 1980, following a trip to China, Rhodes started dyeing her hair pink. She closed the shop in 1992.

Location: 14a Grafton Street, W1S 4ES (blue, yellow)

See Also: CLOTHES DESIGN ASSOCIATED The Fashion & Textile Museum

Website: https://zandrarhodes.com

Paul Smith

An accident ended Paul Smith's hopes of becoming a professional cyclist. He found a job in Nottingham's rag trade. In 1968 he met Pauline Dyer, a Royal College of Art fashion graduate, in his local pub. She became his girlfriend. Two years later a friend of Smith, Douglas Hill, allowed him to use the 12ft. sq. back room of his tailoring shop in Nottingham as a retail outlet. For the first three months, Smith paid no rent and thereafter 50p. a week. It was only worth his while to open the space on Fridays and Saturdays. In 1974 he opened his first shop. Two years later he had enough trade to be able to open the shop six days a week. The following year he moved to a London, living in a bed-sit. He was assiduous in ensuring that the clothes that he designed were well-manufactured; this was something that some of his contemporaries did not take as much trouble over. He started selling his creations to American and Japanese wholesalers. In 1979 Smith opened his first London shop at No. 44 Floral Street. He had been to clubs in Covent Garden. The district reminded him of New York City s Soho district. He opened a shop there in 1979. The building had been rebuilt in 1958, therefore, it had a concrete interior, which to his eye gave it a Le Corbusierian overtone. The four-storey property had no staircase. Initially he rented but was able to buy the freehold from a baker for 25,000. Three years later he purchased the building next door.

In the June 2000 Birthday Honours List Smith received a knighthood. He and Ms Dyer married one another on the day that he was daubed.

In 2010 Paul Smith Junior was launched.

Location: 44 Floral Street, WC2E 9DG (blue, turquoise)

Website: www.paulsmith.com

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood (n e Swire) (1941-2022) studied at Harrow School of Art. During her marriage to a Mr Westwood, she started making jewellery that she sold in Portobello Market. In 1965, while she was working as a primary school teacher, she met, through her brother, Malcolm McLaren, an art student. She and McLaren became involved with one another and had a child together. She began to develop a look for herself. In 1971 the couple opened Let It Rock, a clothes shop at the unfashionable end of Chelsea's Kings Road. The clothes that they sold were styled in reaction to the Ozzie Clark-inspired hippy chic. In 1972 the shop became Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, in 1974 SEX, and in 1976 Seditionaries. According to one former Seditionaries customer, BOY used to copy Westwood designs in cheaper fabrics. He claimed that the designer remarked that she was tempted to set her shop on fire because then BOY would do the same. Seditionaries was a large factor in enabling McLaren to create the punk band the Sex Pistols.

In 1978 Westwood founded the clothes label Vivienne Westwood. In 1981 her Pirates catwalk show helped to inspire the New Romantics pop music movement. The look assisted the process by which she arrived at fashion-page respectability.

In the early 1980s McLaren left Westwood parted. In 1989 John Fairchild, the editor of Women's Wear Daily, proclaimed her to be one of the six most important designers of the 20^thC. In 2004 it was reported that she was going to be the first British designer to be accorded a retrospective at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Location: 44 Conduit Street, W1S 2YJ (purple, blue)

The Vivienne Westwood Gold Label Shop, 6 Davies Street, W1K 3DW (orange, brown)

See Also: POP & ROCK Punk, Sex Pistols

Website: www.viviennewestwood.com

Matthew Williamson

Website: https://matthewwilliamson.com

David Backhouse 2024