In focusing on “The Art of the Detail”, who could we come to other than Zandra Rhodes? She continues to put London Fashion on the map globally, each garment she creates is quintessentially Rhodes, she is fearless when it comes to colour and pattern in her textiles, and if you wanted every accessory on your body to be by Ms. Rhodes…
well that would be possible too, since she has a line of eyewear, jewelry, handbags and furs. Not one detail is spared, not one quality is over looked. Editor-in-Chief Lynn Furge had a conversation with her and was quick to learn, at the end of the day, as far as originality goes it has always been Zandra, and always will be… Nolcha: Where did your passion for design begin?
Zandra Rhodes: I always loved dressing up and as a child my mother made me fabulous clothes that I could wear to parties. We would buy the fabric at the local market. When in my 3rd year at the Royal college of Art I started to do dress textiles, I then thought of how they would look draped and be cut for their journey around the body!
N: London is always known as the “rebels” when it comes to fashion and you are a pioneer in that effort. How do you create clothing that still stays true to its London roots, while having global appeal?
ZR: I am quintessentially English. Also the fact that I wasn’t schooled in fashion gives me a freedom as I have not had any set patterns of thought instilled into me, I also think the English don’t necessarily feel they have to conform. They have an inner freedom to ‘try’ things out and not worry about reactions.
N: The longevity of a fashion label is the goal for young designers everywhere, how do you market your line to introduce it to new customer’s season after season?
ZR: I show it to buyers and press (increasingly difficult) and then travel with it doing shows across the world (when invited) I have a show room in Milan every spring and Fall and now I make sure my collection is photographed and put on the website.
N: Color and pattern always seem to be a major influence in your designs, can you please elaborate on how you create the detail of those patterns and turn them into a garment? What is your design process when creating textiles?
ZR: I am first and foremost a textiles designer. I try to get a theme e.g. The Sea. Then would draw waves in my sketchbook and work out how to interpret that theme onto textiles. Then do work full scale on paper. Then hold the paper up against me in the mirror to see if the fabric will have the desired effect. Keep playing about in front of the mirror I have to make sure the Design looks different from what I have seen and done before. Once I know this I then put the design into repeat and work it out correctly.
N: How has designing for an opera opened your eyes to looking at fashion in a different way? Has it given way for new design shapes or colours or textures?
ZR: Most of all it gives me a new way of looking at my work and my prints – I can take them as far as I like. Additionally, I love dressing large figures and making them larger than life. My prints can be used for full diamante effect, not having to think whether the solution is commercial enough and colour can be used for full effect – pattern too! I can be myself undisguised.
N: Please tell us about the Mass Market appeal of having a Zandra Rhodes line in Top Shop and what that has done for your business?
ZR: I was able to reach a younger group of people because of the price point.
N: Your designs are in countless museums around the world. What 3 properties make a Rhodes garment unique?
ZR: Originally a Zandra Rhodes way of using the textile print – where it influenced the shape of the dress. Beaded safety pins and jewelled tears (10 years before Versace), seams showing on all the outside.
N: Because you yourself are a fashion history icon, what part of history influences you the most?
ZR: I suppose Elizabethans with their slashed silks but also imagery of the North Americans, Indian and also the dramatical print effects of Sonja Delauney.
N: Your name has come up on more than one occasion in the “If I could invite 5 people to a dinner party who would they be” game. Who would you invite?
ZR: Great women – larger then life like, Diana Vreeland, J.K. Rawling (Harry Potter), Louise Nevelson, Phillip Tracey (hate lady), and Frieda Khalo.
N: Zandra Rhodes garments have a life unto themselves, what one emotion do you want the wearer to emit when donning your pieces?
ZR: “I feel fabulous”
N: As one of the key designers mentioned when fashion journalists discuss fashion as art, please tell us about the Fashion and Textile Museum.
ZR: By 1996 I had saved 55 trunks of my clothes and did not want to give them to the Victoria and Albert Museum because I felt that the world had forgotten my work and similarly that of the dead British fashion designers: Bill Gibb and Ozzie Clark. I felt that we all needed to be memorialised. Two friends of mine Andrew Logan and Michael Davis had seen a well built dilapidated warehouse and said come and look! Zandra you have always wanted a Museum, buy it and turn it into a Museum! I said what do you think I am? Made of money?! Then I realised I could consolidate my house, my studio, my factory and my storage into one and save! Then set my heart on Riccardo Legorreta (top colourful architect from Mexico) and engineered meeting him through friends and contracted him to design the future fashion and Textile museum. Now it is finally achieved I have personally managed to put on 2 very important exhibitions: My Favourite Dress and Zandra Rhodes A life Long Love Affair with Textiles. Now it is beautifully run by Newham College of Further Education and is a very special learning hill. (See my websitewww.zandrarhodes.com for further details)
N: With that said, how do you balance creating art with commercial success?
ZR: I don’t! I try to be honest to my inner self but it is a struggle.
N: When creating auxiliary lines such as linens, eyewear, jewelry, fur etc. what elements go into the design to make them a Zandra Rhodes creation more than just a label?
ZR: First the use of Zandra Rhodes specific textiles prints, then the lily logo, use of colour and detailed handy work. When working on Zandra Rhodes I work out how the licence can have special Zandra Rhodes details that look totally Zandra Rhodes where print is possible. I use Zandra Rhodes textile print designs e.g. like the printed laid in my hand bag line, or discharge fabrics in my Topshop collection or hand painted silks in my fur collection. I concentrate on special detailing and trim details that are associated in my work so that the public will buy.
N: When you walk down the street and see a person in your designs, what is the first thing you think of as you pass by?
ZR: I feel highly complimented! If I can, I acknowledge that I have seen them and thank them!
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