Intern

Hawthorne and Heaney studies virtual tour of Rei Kawakubo’s collection: Collecting Commes

May 13, 2021 by Intern

A global Pandemic would have thought to close a lot of opportunities to explore and continue with normal livelihood, however one could say it has opened a lot of opportunities for us to stay in touch with radical discoveries more through virtual experiences. The NGV exhibition, “Collecting Comme” features Rei Kawakubo’s contemporary fashion collection.

Cloak from the Blood & Roses collection, 2014 by Rei Kawakubo’s

Rei Kawakubo’s, features 65 garments from over 40 collections, she wanted to make clothes that didn’t exist before. Not only in her fashion, it’s the way clothes are made to reinvent a new style. She overturns conventional ideas of existing fashions and beauty, through this she disrupts normalized characteristics of the fashionable body.

Takamasa Takahashi, a Japanese fan of Rei’s work who collected her work since the 1970s, and put together most of the Collecting Comes, he was purchasing clothes for himself even though the garments were from a women’s collection he felt they could define his character. He would buy a pair of wide, quilted cotton pants, to him the collection held a baggy and genderless style. This notion of breaking typical rules of fashion entices many who seek to find their own fashion which is not the normalised feminine or masculine shapes and colour used in present fashion as we know today.

Installation view of Collecting Comes, 2020 by Rei Kawakubo’s

Transcending Gender collection, 1995 by Rei Kawakubo’s

However, in this exhibition Rei’s work upheld a higher strain on women’s wear, as we can see from this exhibition, the shapes are still androgynous, however the fabrics, colours and the garment making still holds very feminine features, making folds into a flower shape or using bold colours like vibrant reds although, they still hold neutral colour scheme and feature masculine shapes of blazers. Leaving a controversial question when looking at her clothes as you are not left with a certain idea of who will be wearing them.

Collecting Comes, 2020

One of my favourite from Rei’s collection is this plaid poncho garment, although this could be mistaken as skirt used as a scarf. This notion of using ‘deconstructed’ clothing form reinforces the contravention of a new reinvented way of making clothes. Rei is always overlooking normalized fashion and makes it her own with undefining meaning. The purpose through her fashion proposals, reframes predetermined concepts of attraction and rearticulating a new connection between body and dress.

Rei Kawakubo’s collection is very exciting and fresh, the geometric shapes and symmetry used disrupts usual characteristics of typical fashions of the body. Breaking the rules of gender fashion Rei Kawakubo’s collection leaves us refreshed with a new approach to fashion, given though the convenience of the virtual tours.

Words written Mohini Patel

Photo’s sourced from collecting comes ngv online exhibition https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/collecting-comme/

Hawthorne and Heaney Explores the Online V&A Museum Exhibition – Schiaparelli and Surrealism

February 17, 2021 by Intern

With London being placed into tier 4 and the closure of all things deemed as non-essential, I decided to explore some of the virtual exhibitions available online and came across the Schiaparelli and Surrealism collection displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer who challenged the concepts of dressing, playing with silhouettes and traditional tailoring. She was heavily influenced by the Surrealism movement and the Surrealist artists of the time such as Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray and Bebe Barnard.

Surrealism is an avant-garde movement introduced in the 20th century that was heavily influenced out of the Dada movement. Its focus was to release the imagination of our unconscious mind, by juxtaposing images and ideas. With the freedom of the movement and the collaboration with artists and photographers, she stretched her creative boundaries, creating unique fashion statements.

Evening Coat- 1937 Elsa Schiaparelli and Jean Cocteau

This dark blue silk jersey evening coat was a collaboration with Jean Cocteau, who drew the facial features positioned on the centre back of the coat. Cocteau was obsessed with the effect of double imagery, as did many of the other surrealist artists. Looking closely at the artwork on the back at a first glance, you wouldn’t spot the vase shape containing pretty pink gradient ribbon roses. Instead, the focus would be on the facial forms. The beautiful gold embroidery detailing helps to distinguish both of the shapes as well as adding the glamour and luxury to the tailored coat.

Tear Dress – 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli

I’m sure you will find this dress stunning and intriguing too with the use of colour and print replicating rips and tears to mimic torn flesh. An idea that appeared on women in Dali’s paintings. The veil has the same effect also, however, includes an appliqued fuchsia chiffon underneath the cream fabric. A good contrast to the abstract print. It makes the viewer look into the work and use their imagination to understand the reasoning behind the idea and the design.

Skeletal Dress- 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali

Skeleton dress was the most significant garment creation in the collection made with black crêpe sheath and a raised skeletal form using the trupunto technique. The technique involves adding wadding into the back of the fabric after stitching a shape, forming a raised platform on top of the surface. Adding in hooks to link the bones together such as the leg connecting to the pelvis, added a style included in jewellery. The design itself, was sketched by Dali.

Velvet High Heel Hat 1937-38 Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali

One of my favourite pieces of this collection, was the velvet high heel hat, part of the Autumn/Winter 1937-1938 collection. I liked the way the hat has been thoughtfully positioned on top of the head with the bottom of the shoe face upwards. The idea came from a photo of Salvador Dali with a shoe belonging to his wife, placed on his shoulder. This influenced other ideas to come, placing unusual found objects on the head in three-dimensional structures. One of her other hat creations consisted of a lamb chop meticulously placed above the head to match the design featured on the summer jacket of 1938.

It has been a great way to view and revisit some of the fantastic artwork available online. Google Arts and culture have a vast selection of exhibits that are free and not just from the UK, but also some located all around the world. Worth checking it out.

Words written Jessica Westley

Photo’s sourced from Google Arts and Culture- V&A online exhibition

(This was written before the national lockdown)

Hawthorne and Heaney explore the online Vivienne Westwood: Politics and Fashion exhibition

January 21, 2021 by Intern

With the new National Lockdown measures put into place with the message to stay at home, it has given the perfect opportunity to search for art exhibitions online, exploring work displayed all over the world by various designers. I came across Vivienne Westwood: Politics and Fashion online exhibition by the British Fashion Council.

Vivienne Westwood is one of the most recognised women in fashion, known for her positive activism approach to her collections, displaying issues and disasters happening in the world today. She started designing in 1971 with her partner at the time, Malcolm McLaren in their shop located on the Kings Road, London. It became one of the most desired shops of the time, defining the street culture of Punk and Seditionaries. With the change of fashion over time, Westwood decided to turn to traditional Savile Row tailoring techniques, introducing her own flair and style to garments.

Vivienne Westwood climate change protest outside London Fashion Week

Westwood has spent years speaking out about climate change and the overconsumption of resources that are damaging the planet we live on. She supports charities such as Cool Earth and the environmental Justice Foundation. Her 2016 Spring/ Summer Collection ‘Mirror the World’ campaigned climate change well, using the challenges faced in modern-day Venice and using it as a mirror to show the world what we are all causing.

‘Mirror the World’ Spring/Summer 2016 Collection by Vivienne Westwood

The collection exploited the problems in Venice which include the lack of repair, mass tourism, cruise ships and overall climate change. With Venice being an ‘emporium of culture,’ Westwood used this with the reference to carnivals in a way that people dress and disguise themselves from their own identity and the life they may lead, linking back to the primitive era. Similarly, we are hiding away and masking the negative problems that affect the world.

‘Mirror the World’ Spring/Summer 2016 Collection by Vivienne Westwood

Watching the collection catwalk there were constant links made to nature and the environment in the choice of fabrics, clashing prints and slogans. There were some very interesting material choices used to create structure, shapes giving tailored looks which some may find risky to wear. Some of the pieces had added accessories which looked like they were sourced from emporiums and vintage stores. They were reformed to add bling and express the idea that old things can be reused to make something new. The hair and make-up complemented the looks well, both being conceptual and emphasising cracked or broken mirrors, expressing and exposing the ever-growing damage.

‘Mirror the World’ Spring/Summer 2016 Collection by Vivienne Westwood

Looking through this exhibit, it has opened my eyes to the destruction we all contributing to climate change. It’s interesting to see how Vivienne Westwood portrays these issues and the way she feels so well through her garment structures, fabric choices and accessories. It is extremely important at this moment in time to consider how we can do our bit to slow down damage to our planet, whether that be recycling, choosing alternative travel options or upcycling old clothes. This exhibition was available on Google Arts and Culture, where there are a huge variety of displays which are free to view and definitely worth looking at.

Words written by Jessica Westley

Photo’s sourced from Google Arts and Culture – British Fashion Council (Vivienne Westwood Exhibit)

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts

December 21, 2020 by Intern

On the 10th of December, I had the exciting opportunity to visit the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2020, located just down the road from Savile Row. Due to the current climate with unprecedented challenges and not wanting to miss its 252nd anniversary, the event was postponed to the winter months for the first ever time.

Coordinated by Jane and Louise Wilson, the exhibition supports the exchange of ideas and experiences from any background, shaping cultural conversation to art that we love, hate and smile to. The displays contain over 1,000 pieces of work displayed in 13 rooms ranging from paintings to sculptures to digital art.

Vincent’s Ear by Conrad Atkinson, Shrinking Violet by Ed Mays, Outdoor Minor by Simon Periton

Upon entering Gallery 1, I was surrounded by expressive paintings, textual line drawings put together by Isaac Julien. In the centre of the room stood an installation called Air Kid by Yinka Shonibare. The sculpture is one of 4 in a collection called ‘Earth Kids’, that fights for climate justice illustrating the difficulty of the natural world. Climate change is such a threatening crisis of our time, with sea levels rising, increased temperatures and extinction of many species. It’s important to make people understand the damage and negative effects their actions are having on the planet, a philosophical objective in Isaac Julien’s style of work to make us reflect and visualise.

Air Kid by Yinka Shonibare

One of the pieces that intrigued me the most was the Inter-Concreto sculpture designed by David Batchelor, located in the Large Weston Room. The layering of the coloured geometric grids and multidirectional positionings is similar to the abstract way I like to work when undertaking my own multimedia textiles projects. His work looks at how we analyse and react to colour and hues in this current digital age through hypnotic patterns and shapes. These sculptural installations are made with a variation of industrial material scraps as well as recycled or broken domestic items. In this day and age, I believe it is imperative to reuse and upcycle discarded and unwanted objects to reduce the amount of plastic and landfill constantly entering our oceans. Everything has the potential to be made into something with another form or purpose.

Inter-Concreto by David Batchelor

There was a common theme amongst some of the galleries that reflected the year we have all lived through, learnt and educated ourselves to a brand-new way of life during a pandemic. Gallery 4 curated by Sonya Boyce, portrayed this theme well with mass paintings, photographs and a video named ‘Twice’ by John Smith, who demonstrates how to wash your hands thoroughly whilst singing Happy Birthday through twice.

Twice by John Smith

The Earth is full of violence by Biggs & Collings, Bringing the past to new horizonsby Athena Anastasiou

Every year there is a room that presents small architectural projects and ideas including works from student designers. The inspiration this year was taken from the constructivists in Eva Jiřičná work, displaying bold colours, large plinths, drawings and miniature models.
Inside Gallery 6, Drawing together by Niall McLaughlin

The exhibition was ticket-based priced at £20 and definitely worth the visit if you are in the area. It is a great way of promoting artists as well as supporting the creative arts industry in these difficult times. It is also available to view online for those who are unable to attend in person.

(Exhibition visits were undertaken within contempary covid guidelines)

Words and images by Jessica Westley

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition

October 30, 2020 by Intern

On the 16th of October I got the opportunity to visit the House of Bandits exhibition, which is based at Rembrandt House in London, just down the road from Savile Row. This exhibition is part of the Sarabande foundation created by the late Alexander McQueen to support the new and upcoming visionary talent of today. Offering both studio space and scholarships the foundation has helped many inspiring artists to date.

One of the artists in particular who I went to go see was Esna Su. She creates handcrafted pieces which explore ‘the subtle issues of identity and memory and how these are shaken in the context of political instability’. Within her work she uses the traditional Turkish techniques of weaving, twinning and crochet. As a fellow weaver myself I can understand the complexity and detail that goes into her woven pieces.

Below you can see the process that Esna Su goes through to create some of her final creations. When it comes to knitting, Su uses strips of vegetable leather and knits them together. She lets the designs take shape in their own way as once the leather is dry the organic shapes are exposed. In her own words ‘’through irregular and hollow shapes, she exposes the burden of displacement but also sketches an aspiration towards protection and preservation’’.

“It’s a big part of my life being at Sarabande and I’ll always remember my time with a big smile. I would never have been brave enough to do this without the support of Sarabande.”

Along with Esna Su’s work was another Turkish artist called Berke Yazicioglu who showcased his woven wall hanging which had a particular inspirational point of view. The following designs shown below are woven representations of Igor Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Listening to this piece he used the sound colour theory by different sounds, notes and instruments meaning different textile aspects. For example, the beat inspired the framework, the instruments represent a specific colour and the notes equal to a certain colour tone.

This exhibition is free. And for specific artists you can buy tickets. This is a great exhibition to help support fellow designs and is one to check out.

Words and Images by Isabelle Humm

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent’s Sampling Project

September 11, 2019 by Intern

by Abi Tominey-Smith

During her time here, our last intern Florence Sargent visited the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2019 for her research project, where she was briefed to create a sample based on the Summer Exhibition including 3D aspects. She became increasingly aware of how much reference there was to the animals of the world and nature throughout the art. This year the colours were bold and capturing and this was something Flo wanted to reflect when it came to sampling.

At the exhibition, she began by taking photographs to capture her favourite pieces, most of which included animals with an unusual look or aspect to them – bright colours and interesting faces. This sense of the individual and different, she has taken through to her final samples.

Mach Brothers, EASY TIGER, 2019.

Christopher James, MACAW, 2019.

Caroline Piggott, UK FISHING RIGHTS, 2019.

After visiting the exhibition and writing a blog post about her time there, Flo began her development by creating lots of drawings. She has created some really beautiful and realistic work using only pencil and shading.

To develop further Flo began to turn her flat drawings into 3D artworks, using stitch alongside cutting and joining techniques with glue and tape. These gave her work more of a 3D focus and gave her some ideas as to how she could put together and join her final piece to include these 3D effects.

Flo moved on by adding in more character, using bold colours combined with her 3D style, and experimenting with mediums such as paint, pen and pencils mixed together to give her work a bit more life.

Then when it came to actually beginning the sampling process, Flo decided to start with a simple line drawing plan, laying out all the techniques and shapes to be included when it came to creating. This really helped her final piece come together as a success.

You can see here, she has decided to combine 2 of the most popular animals seen at the RA, a fish and a bird combined, to create her own fantastic creature.

Finally Flo took both the Goldwork Beginner and Tambour Beginner series of classes and learnt the basics of both practises. With some time blocked out for her during the weeks at Hawthorne & Heaney, she was able to practise and build on these skills to create her final pieces.

Goldwork was the first class Flo took part in, so this was the first technique she became comfortable and practised in, and is how she became so skilled at putting together these samples in such a short amount of time. Alongside, she also tried her hand at a smaller tambour sample to practise these skills further.

Overall I think Flo has really captured the fun, bright, wildlife inspired themes seen in this years Royal Academy exhibition. You can see the progression through her work and that she has really taken the time to think and plan out what she aimed to archive. This has resulted in these stunning final pieces, full of life and many embroidery skills!

Image Credits:

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/review-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-2019/
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2019
Own photographs of Flos work, at Hawthorne & Heaney.

Hawthorne and Heaney Attends Amy Barrie 2020 Collection Preview

September 5, 2019 by Intern

This week we visited the preview presentation of the new London based designer Amy Barrie. Amy recently graduated from Central Saint Martins and her 2020 Womenswear collection demonstrates her understanding of how art and culture is central to fashion design. The collection celebrates the history of story telling and the garments are designed to empower the wearer through feminist text and imagery.

Amy Barrie wearing her machine embroidered two piece suit and t-shirt made by Hawthorne and Heaney.

The presentation was held at the Royal Academy and spanned across 3 grand rooms. We were greeted at the door by Amy who talked us through the collection and what we could expect to see in the presentation which involved young female poets modelling the garments in a set of luxurious regal sofas littered with news and campaign posters from the suffragettes. We were then free to walk through the rooms and talk to some of these poets wearing her empowering suits, dresses and t-shirts. When the audience was large enough the poets would perform feminist poetry that bought to life Barrie’s clothing. Their performances were incredibly moving and covered important topics such as sexism, rape and violence.

Spoken Word Poet Priscila Hernandez reading in Barrie’s digitally printed suit.

The idea of performance and event hosting is certainly a modern approach to viewing fashion yet it is understandable why it has become so popular with emerging designers with the growing demand from the consumer for an all encompassing and immersive shopping experience. Many fashion brands have also chosen this route and are rethinking retail as the rise of online shopping becomes a bigger threat to high street stores. Barrie has certainly noticed this and has found her audience through providing a storytelling experience with her clothing.

Her garments are covered from head to toe in written word, both hand and machine embroidered. A casual cotton t-shirt read ‘nether-the-less she persisted’ across the front, achieved through careful hand embroidery. A baby pink satin blazer with renaissance style puffed sleeves and pleating was printed with portraits of influential women such as Malala Yousafzai and Hilary Clinton. As well as using embroidery techniques, Barrie’s collection also involved a lot of print design for accessories; she had made boxing gloves, printed with feminist text as well as a cushion. Perhaps the most impressive piece was Barrie’s flouncy maxi dress, the skirt made entirely from Votes For Women sashes whilst the shoulders were covered in metal fountain pen nibs symbolising the importance of the written word but also taking the viewer on a journey back in time to the ages of calligraphy and poetry.

We found the exhibition both moving and empowering. Barrie’s collection is beautiful and elegant yet gives the wearer a sense of confidence and self-assurance. We cannot wait to see what’s next for Amy Barrie as she carves a path in the fashion industry.

Words and Photos by Florence Sargent

Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine

August 8, 2019 by Intern

20 July – 11 August 2019
Lethaby Gallery (Central Saint Martins), 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AA
Free Entry

By Abi Tominey-Smith

Crafts Council have collaborated with Central Saint Martins within the University Arts London to bring you Tatty Devine’s first solo showcase, including jewellery work, video footage, sketchbook drawings, fashion work and installation pieces. Set in a bright, open setting, reflecting the style of this incredibly cool brand.

University of the Arts London graduates themselves, Harriet Vine and Rosie Wolfenden joined forces about 20 years ago to create the brand Tatty Devine, an original and independent jewellery company based in London. They have challenged the basic conventions of jewellery through their acrylic laser cutting, quirky design and use of scale.

Acid Blossom Ultra Bead Necklace by Tatty Devine.

This body of over 100 work shown spans over their whole creative careers as Tatty Devine, with themes across their collections from Rebellion, Space, Music, Magic, Food to even a reference to Haberdashery!

Being one of the first companies to use laser cutting as a jewellery making technique, their work was bound to stand out. You can see the talent and creative spark of these ladies, as their jewellery is full of originality and personality. The fun colours, shapes and larger scale they’ve played with definitely makes a statement.

Lobster Giant Necklace by Tatty Devine.

Inside Misshapes, there are multiple screens to showing a looped step by step video of how the various materials are turned into wearable jewellery through laser cutting and hand techniques. It shows the process of bending, joining and piecing together such pieces as the Lobster Giant Necklace (above). Many more wacky pieces, similar to the Lobster are on display here.

Tatty Devine are a company very passionate about change and equality which is obvious throughout their work and team with all of their jewellery handmade in the UK by a group of 30 women.

They’ve teamed with The Fawcett Society to fight for women’s rights and often pay homage to the movements such as LGTBQ+ through colour and wording, allowing for their platform to speak up and spread empowering, strong messages.

Courage Calls Necklace (left) and Votes for Women Badge (right) by Tatty Devine

‘Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere’, was a line taken from a speech by feminist Millicent Fawcett that was given after the death of fellow suffragette Emily Davidson. This along with the Votes for Women badges are Tatty Devine’s way of showing support for the suffragettes and women’s rights everywhere. This and many more under the theme of ‘Causes’ are displayed at the exhibition.

Rainbow Halo Instillation with Rosie (left) and Harriet (right) by Tatty Devine, 2018.

Another area covered within Misshapes is their public art, where more recently they have been commissioned to make works for spaces such as the Peninsula Square, Greenwich, where they’ve been able to take their use of scale to a whole new level. Themes of Love, Peace and Magic were the inspiration for this Christmas based instillation. More photographs of their crazy public displays are shown in the exhibition, alongside some of the pieces included.

Altogether, the exhibition was buzzing, innovative and a very engaging experience. With a broad range of subject matters, there’s something for everyone – whether you’re a creative mind or not. It’s definitely a must see!

All images (courtesy from the Misshapes exhibition)