I’m coming to the end of the wall quilts I’ve been making for exhibition at Leamington from January to May 2025. I know others are still beavering away, but my mind has turned - not to new exactly because the inspiration is still from the collection at the gallery but to the clothes rather than objects (there were some lovely “best” dresses and outfits in the collection, some hand made, some commercial and dating from the 17th century to present day)- to fashion and protest.
Have you been reading about the Harrods scandal and horrors associated with Al-Fayed? He’s another in a long line as far as I can see linked to sexual assault and rape. There seems to be a spiders web of corruption and abuse involving lots of people who failed to intervene and were even covering up for him.
So the new piece will be related to this and the #MeToo movement in general, and although the ideas are still coming together, I at least know the direction of travel! Physically, the piece will be a garment; a lined coat.
Paul Poiret (1876-1944) had enormous influence on fashion in the early 20th century, and is remembered for freeing women from corsets and modernising the Victorian silhouette. So, the coat I’m making is his Cocoon Coat - one piece front and back for the body and a long neckband with a hobble skirt (well, not quite as liberating as we’d hoped for then)!
I’ll be using commercial fabric in teals/greens/blues, but only as a background for collages, portraits, newspaper cuttings, drawing, printing, etc. It’ll keep me busy for a while. I don’t think they’ll be room to put it in the exhibition but we’ll see - I have to make it first! It’s an extension of this piece I made a couple of years ago when I was getting back into the swing of things after a couple of years away because of illness, but I don’t think will include a life model - plenty of painting though - but you never know.
