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CONCEPT textiles in fine art 18 Penelope Editor Beth Smith finds more questions then answers in Tatiana Blass intriguing art installation. ImagesbySãoPaulo-basedphotographerEvertonBallardin. 96 Capturing cloth John Stewart’s Photography Denna Jones traces the career of a talented photographerwhofoundmeaningandendlessinspirationinfoldsoffabric.
INDUSTRY from craft to commerce 46 COVER STORY Paper Cut Project Hair-raising wigs at the V&A’s Hollywood Costume exhibition RinneAllen&LucyAllenGillismeetthedesigners. 48 COVER STORY Food for thought Inacio Ribeiro, one half of eclectic and feminine fashion label Clements Ribeiro, describes how working with embroiderer Karen Nicol offers endless inspiration. AneditedextractfromEmbellished:NewVintagepublishedbyA&CBlack.
GLOBAL textiles from around the world 54 COVER STORY Air apparent Muslin: an inheritance worth preserving Sonia Ashmore, a historian specialisinginculturalexchangeandtradebetweenBritainandAsia, exploresthisfabric’shistory. 59 COVER STORY Uncut and undying Award winning weaver Ptolemy Mann is delighted by the understated glory of the Gongadi blankets and discovers the people working to promote them. PhotographssuppliedbyAnthra.
ANECDOTE textiles that touch our lives 24 Flight attendants Skybound craft unites a city EthnographerMeenaKadridiscoversthecraftat thecentreofatruelyupliftingfestival. 36 Threads in time Sita Brahmachari has structured her second novel JasmineSkies, a follow up to the award wining ArtichokeHearts, around the traditions of Kantha stitch. 71 Fabric swatch No.14: Nettle Cloth Sarah Jane Downing casts her eye over this modest fabric and discovers a world of potential. Illustrated by MacrinaBusato. 75 Reflections Fifty issues on As Selvedge celebrates a landmark issue our long standing contributor Professor Jessica Hemmings looks back at the many changes in the world of textiles.
COHABIT stunning interiors beautifully photographed 76 Entomology class Mister Finch’s solitary study of the natural world. An insight into the world of this Leeds based ‘textile storyteller’. Self taught, he uses new and vintage fabrics to bring butterflies, bunnies and fairytale creatures to life.
ATTIRE critical reporting of fashion trends 29 COVER STORY Beauty unfolds Lidewij Edelkoort says Pleats Please. The renowned trend forecasters, art director and co-publisher of the magazine View onColour explains the enduring appeal of Issey Miyake’s pleated designs. PhotographsbyYurikoTakagi.
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Flight attendants SKYBOUND CRAFT UNITES A CITY
maintaining continuity. A work where material and process collide, overlap and melt like strata of a new and surprising tactility. Where form and detail are only the by-product of the folding into one another, of shapes answering shapes, of forms echoing other forms.
To pleat is to diminish, to reduce and to withdraw into a slim column, while to unfold is to increase, to grow, to gain momentum and volume. Pleating, unfolding, repleating in a perpetual movement, almost like breathing of relaxing, like a Pilates stretching exercise. A reversible dialogue between the dark and the light, the negative and the positive, vital energies creating tension and creativity. A flow from the outside to the inside, where neither is fixed, in a constant exchange. Outlining the body in a variety of geometric forms, designing the body like an abstract expression.
Pleating as a means of introducing another more radical concept of space and time within the landscape of fashion: nervously stretched topographical surfaces inhabit three dimensions in an almost independent manner, creating optical illusions that are also extremely tactile. No longer the repetition of sameness but a repetition of all differences, transgressing borders and customs, east and west, age and gender. Adapting to the multiplicity of human identities that change over time, according to seasons and decades, translating flexible moments of cultural metissage.
In periods of extreme tension and chaos such as that which we inhabit today the concept of fluid form and movable architecture is a way to come to terms with the situation. To embrace the world of fear and to espouse the age of doubt. Instead of trying to fight those extreme sentiments, one gives in and starts to discover another, more human reality.
Through research and an almost animal instinct for the future, the genius of Miyake and his design studios has been able to anticipate the 21st century and its painful existence by preparing entirely new processes of expression for people who want to be at once individual yet also close their ranks, in an attempt to structure social life through friendship and collective spirit, donating the individual to the group. Like no other expression and no other brand the Pleats Please idiom enables people to be uniform and/or to stand out, both at the same time sometimes. To help people gain access to our radically different selves. Thus folding and unfolding can be seen as a system of enveloping versus developing and of involution and evolution.
iFor many people these nomadic clothes act like 4 Yuriko Takag
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The Ring of Fire PTOLEMY MANN WEAVES HER WAY ACROSS INDONESIA
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Plus ça change WHY LINTON TWEEDS REMAIN THE HEIGHT OF FASHION
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Food for thought WHERE EMBROIDERER KAREN NICOL FINDS INSPIRATION
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Batik is by far the most recognisable and closely associated textile technique of Indonesia; with its distinctive tiny spots and graphic motifs the word itself stems from the Javanese word amba meaning ‘to write’ and titik meaning ‘dot’ or ‘point’. It’s a wax-resist process where the cloth is covered, layer by layer with hot molten wax applied by a Tjanting Tool in an elaborate motif.
The cloth is dipped in dye between applications creating complex layers of colour. Motifs such as the cloud-like ‘Megamendung’ from Cirebon show the tonal layers of colour built up through the process. This is an ancient motif from China and can still be seen throughout Indonesia. The number of layers on the clouds indicates how many times the cloth was dipped in dye.
Traditionally the Batik technique was always drawn by hand, a method known as ‘batik tulis’ (meaning ‘batik writing’). This is an incredibly time consuming process – one piece of cloth can take months to make. In the mid-19th century a new and quicker method appeared with the invention of the cap (or tjap) which enabled the worker to apply an entire design onto the cloth with a single imprint of a copper block. The work now shifted from women to men and often the two techniques are combined. Tiny dots are created by the ‘cemplogen’ a wooden handled wire brush that perforates the waxed surface to let dye through.
Batik motifs vary dramatically depending on where and when they are made and the technique used. Various designs have always represented social standing and several ‘forbidden’ patterns were decreed in the 18th century by the sultans of the royal family. The influence of Hinduism brought animal motifs representing vigour and strength, and rock and water shapes to symbolize meditation and the source of life. Dutch colonization brought chrysanthemum flower designs; and during the Japanese occupation an extraordinary explosion of delicate, intricate floral orchids and butterflies dominated. Throughout modern Indonesia batik sarongs are worn by everyone, everywhere; it’s impossible not to come away with a newfound appreciation for them. 4
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In the ever-changing world of haute couture enduring relationships are rarities to be cherished. So the collaboration between the House of Chanel and Linton Tweeds – still thriving after 84 years – is something special. A shared spirit of pure creativity.
Yet at first sight the two enterprises seem like chalk and cheese – and their backstories reinforce this. William Linton paid his dues in the dour tweed mills of the Scottish Borders at the turn of the 20th century before launching his own business out on his own in Carlisle, the historic Cumbrian city where textiles were still the major industry. He came from a school of hard knocks where competition was sharp, profit margins low and the risk of losing your capital investment high.
Linton began by selling samples of his wares in the farms and hamlets of Lakeland and survived by sheer effort, imagination, creativity, enterprise – and a larger-thanlife personality. Soon, Linton Tweeds set its sights further afield and William began travelling to Europe and America, where the quality of his tweeds was rapidly recognised. Despite being lauded by top British fashion designers such as Charles Creed and Hardy Amies, Linton's life was far from glamorous.
Coco Chanel’s life in Paris was another world: high fashion linked with high society, celebrity love affairs mixed with political intrigue. Glamour was at its core. So when Captain Edward Molyneux effected the fateful introduction in 1928 between Linton and Chanel, there was little to suggest just how momentous the meeting would prove. Coco was blown away by the quality and inventiveness of Linton's designs and their tweed has featured in every House of Chanel haute couture collection from that day on. The two major protagonists have long since left the stage, but their successors have continued to work together, surviving war, economic upheaval and transformations in both the tweedmaking and fashion industries, strengthening the creative thread that links them.
When William Linton died suddenly in 1938, responsibility passed to his daughter Agnes who ombined running the family business with establishing the world-famous Geltsdale deerhound kennel. For a while, she shared her duties at Linton Tweeds with her cousin George Linton, until ill-health meant they both had to step down.
Fortunately, they had already recruited a bright young designer, Leslie Walker, who saw the chance to take the business to new markets throughout the world. His own family was steeped in Border tweedmaking history and, at Linton's, he had already found ways of combining traditional wool and mohair with new synthetics, opening up fresh design opportunities for the top fashion houses by using yarns such as confetti and variegated chenille and metallic threads to make lightweight bouclé material. Nailing his colours to the mast, Leslie bought the business and it remains in his family today, with his son Keith leading the way as Managing Director.
The House of Chanel has seen even more upheaval. Coco died in 1971 and for some years her design legacy caused something of a creative block for her successors – Gaston Berthelot, Jean Cazaubon, Yvonne
Dudel, and Ramon Esparza – all suffered under the long shadow cast by the founder. Only in 1982, with the arrival of Karl Lagerfeld, another larger-than-life personality, was the business able to break away from the past and revolutionise its designs while retaining Coco’s core values.
The years since then have seen the most fruitful collaborations since that first encounter. Traditional tweed, often seen as a fairly heavy material suitable for suits and coats in Northern climes, has been transformed into a lightweight and complex fabric that can enhance any item of apparel and accessories.
Today the design brief has more to do with ideas, feelings and creativity with the tweedmaker expected to experiment with yarns, dyes and any other material that can be woven to achieve the desired colours and textures. It headlines both the haute couture and prêt-a-porter collections throughout the world, finding particular favour in the Far East. To emphasise this, in 2012, coinciding with their centenary, Linton's launched their Japanese Collection: a clear indicator in a world struggling with recession that tweed retains its caché in the still-booming fashion business. Patricia M Hitchon
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“Our imaginations are only as rich as their input, so continous feeding is essential.”
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