fashion

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

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits Mary Quant at the V & A Museum

August 14, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

”From miniskirts and hot pants to vibrant tights and makeup, discover how Mary Quant launched a fashion revolution on the British high street, with over 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from the designer’s personal archive. ”

Thai Two Piece (top circa 1960)

This time, the V&A’s fashion and textiles display has brought us straight into the swinging sixties with the ‘Mary Quant‘ exhibition which it is currently housing. Covering many aspects and influcences of the brand, this exhibition explains how Quant built such a sucessful label and how it came to influence the way we shop today.

Coat with Frogging Details

The begins of the brand were humble, with Quant stitching together pieces of an evening upstairs from her shop ‘Bazaar’ to be sold the following day. The inspiration for her pieces was drawn from necessity. Quant saw that girls didn’t necessarily want to dress like smaller versions of their mothers and wanted to make their own fashion choices. She identified that these people thought of themselves as more ‘easy going’ and ‘broad minded’ than the previous generation and wanted to express themselves as such; stepping away from the constrictive gurdles of the 50’s and into more flexible, playful pieces. You might say that what Mary Quant did for fashion in the 60’s was a kin to what Chanel did in the 20’s, providing a more comfortable alternative to the restrictive fashions of the previous decade and in turn allowing the wearer to make socio-political statements about themselves their beliefs (women’s roles in society and decorum for example).

Cotton Wrap Dress

The Quant brand started as a way to offer an alternavive way to dress, however there was always a strong undertone of inclusivity in the designs, and here we can see how Quant channels the 50’s shape she had previously moved away from. Reimagining it in a more comfortable wrap around style in a soft cotton fabric, she started to appeal to a whole new group to expant her following.

Manhattan dress (circa 1970)

Mini-Culottes dress

Upstairs the exhibition moves on to more about how the brand expanded as times moved on, displaying pieces from the 70’s onwards. You can see how the styles developed with the times, but Quant managed to balance the changing styles with some of her classic brand features.

Another area in which Quant was a revolutionary was in her makeup range. Like with the fashion, the makeup grew out of necessity as Mary felt that the people who were buying her items, needed to be able to do more natural, lighter make up to compliment the fashion choices they had made. Other make up brands available at the time promoted a much heavier made up look, which didn’t necessarily reflect the look people wearing Quant’s clothes wanted to create for themselves.

Here we can see how the strength of the branding comes into play. They focused on simplifing the process of making yourself up in the products which are often have multiple uses, were made to be able to fit into palettes for easy storage. The names also simply state what they do whilst having a sense of humour: ‘Cheeky’, ‘Tan Trap’ and ‘Grease Paint’ for example.

Mini Crinkle Dress

From an embroidery perspective, there unsuprisingly isnt much featured in this exhibition as it is more of a luxury technique (particulally during this time). However it isan interesting exhibition to look at from a textiles/ production view point as the brand being one of the first high street shops aimed at a younger market. Though there is an emphasis on accessibility for more people into fashion and therefore a lower than their contemporary competitiors price points for the items, there is still great quality to these items. This testament is shown in the vibrancy and how well the garments have still held their shape, particulally on pieces you can see have been worn and loved, but still are in great condition. It draws a stark contrast to some of the throw away fashion we have come to know when we think about ”accessibilty” on today’s high street. There are echos of the global responsibility we have for the planet in the fashion industry which was introduced in the ‘Fashioned by Nature‘ exhibition the V&A Museum held last year.

If this has tickled your fancy, the Mary Quant exhibition is on at the V&A Museum until 16th Feb 2020, tickets start at £12.00

Hawthorne & Heaney for Hasan Hejazi

January 11, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

We are delving back into the archives to revisit this really fun project we worked on for designer Hasan Hejazi in 2012. We were asked to create baroque inspired tonal cut work for three bespoke luxury evening dresses for pop goddess Marina from Marina and the diamonds. The project included some exciting names including Tim Bret Day (Photography), Thomas Knights (Film) and a suit for the designer by London tailor Gresham Blake.

Our designs and drawings were based on victorian florid ornament something that is very good to translate to cut work. The initial designs and refining took a long time and the annotations and notes for the embroiderers even longer as there was so much detail involved.

The embroideries were executed in cutwork in colours to match the dresses with a fade to either lighter or darker. There were also a few crystals scattered about to add a bit of light.

The dresses were then put together over four days ready for the photo shoot.

Before the event we hadn’t seen any of the dresses, so we were very excited for the launch. The first we saw was the full length red piece which marina wore for her performance at the beginning of the night.

She then changed into the blue knee length dress which is our personal favourite !

The final pink dress was saved solely for the photo shoot, which you can see in the photos below. It was lovely to get a chance to flex our cutwork drafting muscles this thoroughly, so we are very grateful to Hasan for getting us involved ! A wonderful project all round.

Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up – Exhibition Visit

September 5, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter Leave a Comment

The exhibition Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up is currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and we recently took the chance to visit. This unique show gives a detailed overview of Kahlo’s life: her family and heritage; her politics; her relationship with mural painter Diego Rivera; the near-fatal accident that caused her a lifetime of pain; and most importantly, how she constructed her image and the way in which she lived her life.

Upon Kahlo’s death in 1954, her husband Rivera locked up her most valuable possessions in the bathroom of the Casa Azul (The Blue House, their home in Mexico) and instructed that it not be opened until 15 years after her death. In 2004 this bathroom was opened, and the contents of the room went on display at the Casa Azul as a museum dedicated to her life. These objects are what now fill the exhibition space at the V&A, carefully shipped thousands of miles to be shown outside of Mexico for the first time.

The exhibition begins with old photographs of Kahlo and her family, some of which are adorned with Kahlo’s handwritten notes. Some simply label family members, whereas others are more personal: for example, on the back of Kahlo’s Communion photo she has scrawled “¡IDIOTA!” as she renounced Catholicism later in life.

The show continues through a series of rooms to Kahlo’s accessories: heavy jade necklaces; crescent earrings featuring paired birds, which are traditional of Mexican jewellery; and hand-woven ‘Rebozo’ shawls and ‘Morrale’ sack bags. These items highlight Kahlo’s pride in her Mexican heritage.

We then move on to Kahlo’s possessions, perhaps one of the most personal parts of the exhibition. Intimate items are on display such as used lipsticks and empty medicine bottles accompanied by letters to and from her various doctors.

Kahlo’s suffering due to childhood polio and a car accident at the age of 18 lies at the foundation of some of these objects. For most of her life she wore uncomfortable corsets to help support her back and alleviate pain, some of which were made of plaster and decorated with painting as Kahlo used them like a canvas.

Finally, the main feature of the exhibition is a stunning display case of Kahlo’s clothing. Kahlo is renowned for her combinations of indigenous garments from different regions of Mexico, and she was photographed in such outfits many times. To see them up close in real life is breathtaking.

Detailed embroidery is present in most of the outfits, from complexly shaded flowers and birds to cross stitch to traditional Chinese embroidery (due to Kahlo’s fascination with Chinatown when she moved to the USA with Rivera). The exhibition gives details of her most striking outfits, describing how she was followed by children when in the USA, who asked “Where is the circus?”.

There are some of Kahlo’s paintings – mainly self portraits as she used herself as a subject when painting from her bed – but the exhibition mainly focuses on Kahlo’s items and how she presented the complex layers of her identity within her life. It states that her wardrobe was not staged: she dressed up even when she wasn’t expecting visitors, and even when she was in bed rest.

Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up is a bewitching and intimate exhibition. The items on display are fascinating, and through them the personal details of how Kahlo naturally lived an artistic life – despite her misfortunes and pain – are revealed. A must-see for anyone interested in textiles, and anyone interested in Frida Kahlo’s complex and inspiring life.

Purchase tickets at the V&A website here.

Written by Laura Hill

Hawthorne & Heaney, Short Internship Available

August 13, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Sample by Charlotte Pearson

Hawthorne & Heaney is currently looking for an embroidery intern to join us for a few weeks in August 2018. Usually we only take internships of 3 months or more but we have a short period when we are looking for a little extra help between the 20th August and 7th Sept.

Duties will include machine and hand sewing, general administration, maintenance of the social media sites, research, assisting with embroidery preparation for both the staff and for the School and errands. Applicants must be hard working, versatile, enthusiastic, professional, responsible and able work well in a small team. Attention to detail is a must along with patience as nothing in embroidery is particularly quick.

Specific Needs

Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
Trend aware
Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position. Hours are full time, Monday- friday 9-5pm.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

Elsie Wong (Former Intern) with her sample work

Hawthorne & Heaney at Holly Fulton’s Retrospective

July 23, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

FASHION IN MOTION

Holly Fulton

Fashion in Motion: Holly Fulton | Image: Chris Taylor

On 20th July, we attended Fashion in Motion featuring Holly Fulton at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was a spectacular retrospective of the label, that featured highlights from past seasons. We sat eagerly and were anxious to get a snapshot of how the label has evolved over the years. As the shows began, we were not disappointed, Fulton sent down models decked out in beautiful and complex graphic embellishments, laid out in eye catching bold colours..

She restyled the looks, so as to create a more congruent show. In spite of the varied colour palettes and array of inspiration that stretches across 6 seasons, she succeeded in highlighting her unique visual aesthetic that couples with her hand rendered backdrop. Below are some of the looks:

Holly Fulton | Image: Hawthorne & Heaney

The collection that we liked the most was Spring Summer 2016, seen in the two looks below. She drew inspiration from Eileen Agar, who collage decorative elements with nature. Fulton skillfully translated the spiral seashell shapes and kaleidoscope colour palette into her prints and embellishment. And she even included a cascading tail into the mix, that were balanced out with well orchestrated and balanced proportions.

Holly Fulton | Image: Hawthorne & Heaney Holly Fulton | Image: Hawthorne & Heaney

Eileen Agar | The return of the Blues

Holly Fulton | Image: Yanyun

After this opportunity to feast on Holly’s designs, we are excited to see what the designer would sent down the runway in the coming fashion week.

By Elsie Wong

Hawthorne & Heaney for Lack of Colour at Selfridges

July 6, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

During last weekend, Hawthorne & Heaney set up camp in London’s Selfridges store for a monogramming event for Australian Hat brand ‘Lack of Color’.

‘Lack Of Color is the popular Australian label that produces a range of men’s and women’s hats available in seasonal colours and styles. Created by Tess Corvaia and Robert Tilbury, a creative couple from Queensland, Australia who aim to bring their loyal customers a range of innovative and wearable pieces each season.’ (Lack of colour About page)

Thanks to the lovely hot weather we have being having here, we were offering these hand embroidered monograms onto the hat ribbons or bands, usually of their strawhats as shown.

With a choice of 16 colour for the embroidery, the combinations on offer are numerous.

It’s always great fun working with such different and interesting brands in some of the best known shops in the world!

If you missed out on the opportunity to have your hat personalised in store and would like to get it done, this is something that we can do for you in the studio, get in contact with us by phone or email and we can advise you futher.

Or if you would like to put on your own hand embroidery event with us… get in touch!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits Fashioned from Nature

June 1, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a new Fashion exhibition now showing in their fashion and textiles area called ‘Fashion from Nature‘. The exhibition provides an overview of how nature is used in fashion as well as how nature is reflected by fashion, which gives it a broader range of items to show and issues to call into question.

Waistcoat, Maker Unknown 1780 – 1789,

Like most of the exhibitions held in this area, downstairs displays the historical items, talking about the production of fabrics such as linen and silk with videos showing the full process. From an embroidery perspective, there are a few real treats for the traditional embroidery enthusiasts such as this silk-shaded waistcoat featuring these gorgeously expressive monkeys.

Fish Scales Headband, Maker unknown, Circa 1800

There are unsurprisingly a number of pieces which include animal harvested materials which are undoubtedly beautiful but the issues surrounding their use are well discussed in the displays. These are presented next to some alternatives to the use of feathers and bones which help to stop the exhibition from getting too heavy as you may be surprised at when people started to discuss the place of animal cruelty in fashion. Some pieces are just surprising in themselves such as this fish scale floral headband from the Bahamas.

Pineapple Fibre Lace Handkerchief, Maker unknown

Some pieces are hard to believe they are what their descriptions say they are, such as the lace sample above which is made of pineapple fibres, an exquisite demonstration of how delicate this material can be used.

Cellulose evening Coat, Alix (Madame Grès), 1936

Upstairs, the pieces are all much more contemporary, focusing more on how fashion imitates and draws inspiration from nature rather than taking from it directly. The piece above is by Madame Gres which uses a combination of silk, cellulose fibres and artificial pearls to create an effect to imitate mother of pearl shell linings.

‘Cat Woman’ Dress, Jean Paul Gaultier, 1997

As the theme of this exhibition is quite broad, it is a great opportunity to see a hand-picked selection of great pieces from some legendary designers; Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood are all there as well as this piece from Jean Paul Gaultier which demonstrates how well skins can be replicated in other materials like beads.

‘Rootbound #2’ Dress, Diana Scherer, 2017

Finally, we are presented with some exhibits which explore some of the alternative materials and developments which may become viable alternatives for the future of fashion. There is a piece by Diana Scherer where she has been training grass root systems to grown into lace designs which is quite incredible. It is not a fully resolved material as yet but demonstrates potential opportunities in clothing.

This exhibition is quite heavily loaded with questions of the issues that fashion has caused in the past, destruction of animals such as osprey, turtles and whales or the poisonous effects of dying and military as examples; and the way we continue to deal with these issues in the future. Therefore it is one that you can expect yourself to have to think about as well as admire the pieces on display. Fashioned From Nature is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum until the 27th Jan 2019, tickets start from £12.00.