Embroidery Specialists
Along side our Monogramming for Handkerchiefs class on the 4th May, we are also holding a Monogramming for Cufflinks class on the 5th May. You can join us to learn the delicate art of monogramming and leave with your own monogrammed cufflinks at the end. Follow the link to secure your place as spaces are strictly limited, tickets are £60 plus VAT and can only be bought directly from the London Craft Week Website.
Francis Golding – 1944 – 2013
The Francis Golding Exhibition: ‘a sartorial biography’ at The Museum of London is a small viewing celebrating the fashion and life of Francis Golding. He became a fashion icon and ‘charts the changes in the city’s style over the last 40 years’. He was born 1944 and sadly passed away a few years ago in a tragic bike crash.
Career
Frances Golding moved to London in 1967 when he was 23, the city at this time was a fast growing, vibrant city with great social culture through a boom in music, theatre and fashion. Golding started his London career shaping the city landscape with his architecture soon becoming a successful career. He became one of London’s leading architectural, planning and conservation consultants with projects including the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie and One New Change.
Fashion
Golding was passionate about fashion and collecting menswear. The exhibition explores 14 items that belonged to Golding through his London life.
At this time expressing yourself through fashion was key, allowing your identity to be shown through society. The homosexuality act was discriminated among men and the expression through fashion enable people to show what could not be said out loud, through their clothes.
The Museum of London described Golding to “portray a ‘dandy’ look for that day and age in London”- ‘…soon I will look like the bi sexual libertine I am’.
The following Photos are examples Golding’s Fashion and accessories on show at The Museum of London exhibition
Window display at the Museum of London exhibition of Francis Golding’s clothing and accessories 1960-75.
Close up view: Black leather Briefcase, known to be used at the beginning of Golding’s civil service career.
Close up view: Black leather boots, Foster and Son, London.
Close up view: Printed tie, from Thea Porter (red) and Liberty of London tie (green patterns).
Striped jumper from Bloomingdales 1960.
Window display in The Museum of London exhibition. A latter selection of Golding’s Fashion. The difference in materials and colours is quite prominent, perhaps him settling into the London living and influences of the city in the 21st century.
Close up view: the label on Timothy Everest tie. Beautiful details and quality in the materials.
Architecture
Francis Golding was one of the country’s leading architectural, planning and conservation consultants, and had a big influence on the look of contemporary London. He had many collaborations, for example: Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Terry Farrell, Rick Mather, Rafael Viñoli, Jean Nouvel and Michael Hopkins.
His collaboration with Norman Foster was particularly memorable as it was for the Gherkin, London.
By Phillipa Lloyd
It’s exciting to announce that Hawthorne & Heaney have worked with Kent and Curwen to produce beautiful embroidered badges for their new collection.
Kent & Curwen, was first established in 1926, ‘two years after Eric Kent and Dorothy Curwen first crossed paths on Savile Row’. The company was described as a sports related gentlemen’s fashion brand that first began as a manufacturer of military, club, and college repp ties. In 1972, K&C had a defining moment when they produced kits for both England and Australia in the Ashes. The relationship with The England team lasted for well over ’20 years, supplying knits and caps well into the Nineties’.
As of recent, David Beckham has joined Kent and Curwen in a partnership, acting as a brand ambassador and to us he is the perfect fit – ‘a true gentleman, celebrated for his fashion style and the British sports hero of his generation’.
Working with creative director Daniel Kearns, they have both created a collection ‘of everything a man would want to wear right now’. From ‘sun-faded rugby shirts, classic outerwear to English heritage knits.’ Most of these products bears a badge that reflects the heritage of Kent & Curwen – the Three Lions and the English Rose. These embroidered badges are both long held symbols of the brand and we at Hawthorne & Heaney are delighted at the way they turned out!
Kent & Curwen launched this collection as part of London Fashion Week Mens and in an interview with WWD, Kearns expressed that this collection aims to appeal to a new British generation. The collection is now on selling on the Kent & Curwen’s website and Mr Porter so check it out to get your hands on it.
Kent and Curwen are seriously embarking on a new chapter in their rich history and we are so excited to be part of that.
Find out a bit more about the K&C here:
References:
WGSN – https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/david-beckham-to-help-design-kent-curwens-autumnwinter-2016-collection/#
Kent and Curwen official website – https://www.kentandcurwen.com/heritage/
GQ – http://www.gq.com/story/david-beckhams-kent-curwen-new-menswear-line
By Hasina
On Friday night, Hawthorne & Heaney were a few of the audience members to watch the the fashion show of Joshua Kane’s A/W 2017 collection. Held at the London Palladium, it was a grand affair with 2250 people eagerly watching as Kane wanted to be able to share the experience with his fans as well as the high fashion crowd. Therefore, tickets were available for anyone to buy, attend and enjoy.
Entitled, ‘Journey’ the brand did not disappoint with an amazing set of intricate lattice work depicting a early 20th century tube station, newly built and creating a social microcosm of it’s own as the classes mingle. On this we were introduced to the narative with a couple of models interacting briefly before the main body of the show got started.
The shows itself was crisp, sharp and well polished as is only fitting for a Joshua Kane collection. Not only was this show unusual to be shared with the wider audience in this way, but was also Kane’s first show that was an equal split of mens and womenswear. The line up finished with the three looks which Hawthorne & Heaney produced embroidered pieces for, in the form of a horse head, with chess board, military and heraldic influences.
The show finished with a moving performance by the two models/dancers that we were introduced to at the start.
As always it was lovely to be involved in an exciting project like this, particulally with such as beautiful outcome and was wonderful to see them on their debut in person. If you would like to seemore of the collection follow the link here. We are looking forward to what they produce for next season already!
It can be hard when you get excited and caught up in learning a new technique, but when it comes to applying your skills to a particular item, one often realises it is harder than first thought. We thought we would take our recent work for Joshua Kane and use it as a sort of case study for the use of goldwork in fashion.
These pieces were inspired by lightening which give the goldwork a very crisp look whilst showing off the complexity of the goldwork. Often, goldwork is shown with some accents of silk work, however by keeping purely to the goldwork it makes it look very bold and fresh.
Placement of pieces such as these is very important as they weigh a lot so the piece of the garment that they can be crafted into need to be very sturdy in itself and not be subject to too much movement when worn . This is why the collar and high waistband as shown above work well with this technique as they will not be agitated in these positions. As can be seen in the images, the positioning of the embroidery and the garment pieces are worked in careful consideration of each other.
Along with the weight, the height of the embroidery has to be taken into consideration as the padding underneath, forces the goldwork to stand proud of the fabric. This can make for a really interesting design feature, as can be seen in this example, the shadows created by the height add to the depth and texture of the piece.
With some careful manipulation, the use of traditional techniques can make a very refreshing to classic cuts which has so much possibility. In these pieces there is only 2 types of goldwork material used, which allows for a clean appreciation of the lines and design itself, allowing it to be an interesting addition to the overall look without over powering the garment as a whole.
If you have an idea that you would like to see come to fruition or are interested in learning more about goldwork, get in touch with us at Hawthorne & Heaney or the London Embroidery School.
Looking at AW15 London Collections: Men it is clear that texture is a key theme for the season, being keenly explored through fur, wools, brocades and more. At Hawthorne & Heaney what has really caught our eye is the use of embroidery in menswear. It can sometimes be a hard balance to strike, with an area that is so closely associated with femininity but there were some well integrated pieces that go to show that embroidery for menswear can be just as beautiful.
Antonio Bizarro and James Long took more of an appliqué approach to their embroidery with Bizarro applying large areas of intricately patterned brocade to his jacket using a contrasting satin stitch edge. James Long provided a touch of androgyny to his collection using chunky guipure inspired lace motifs to offset the sportswear cuts.
There was also an abundance of pop details such as these embroidered badges which were seen at both Kit Neale and Topman. This slots cleanly in with the customisation trend that has been dominating our catwalks and long may it continue.
Until next season…