suffice to say it was easy enough to see from where the creeper had crept

National Geographic magazine scan from the 80s


Contemporary Avant-Garde: Cutting-Edge Design:
'the French term 'avant-garde' was used in the early Twentieth Century referencing new and innovative practice, and was particularly germane when it was used in the context of the visual and performing arts. whether this term is still relevant in contemporary discourse is widely debated.
Fashion historian Diana Crane has analysed a wide range of uses of the term, and argues that it has been applied to three types of 'changes' in art: in the aesthetic content; in the social content; and in the norms surrounding the production and distribution of artworks. she also contends that, in terms of Modernist fashion, it was a practice that challenged aesthetic norms and traditions prevalent in the construction and design of Western clothing and that questioned, at times, political and social ideologies rising in prominence at a particular time.
in many cases, it can also escape the powers of the commercial market.
sustainable design, for example, demands a more responsible design methodology that might consider waste minimalism in terms of pattern-making, seamless construction, closed-loop textile surface design and resuable off-cuts. as we know, new developments in fashion design can encompass drawing, pattern-making, cutting, sewing, construction and decorative techniques, but they can also involve distribution, sales and marketing, and promotional campaigns. in other words, avant-garde practice is not mutually exclusive, but rather embraces a plethora of possibilities.'
- p218, Australian Fashion Unstitched: The Last 60 Years - Bonnie English + Liliana Pomazan

XXXXXXXXX


'on my way out, three separate people asked if i had any spare change – ‘no, but thanks for asking!’ – which wouldn’t have happened twenty years ago.'
– p43
'i had arranged to meet an old friend and colleague, so i went now to Chancery Lane and caught an Underground train. i do like the Underground. there’s something surreal about plunging into the bowels of the earth to catch a train. it’s a little world of its own down there, with its own strange winds and weather systems, its own eerie noises and oily smells. even when you’ve descended so far into the earth that you’ve lost your bearings utterly and wouldn’t be the least surprised to pass a troop of blackened miners coming off shift, there’s always the rumble and tremble of a train passing somewhere on an unknown line even further below. and it all happens in such orderly quiet: all these thousands of people passing on stairs and escalators, stepping on and off crowded trains, sliding off into the darkness with wobbling heads, and never speaking, like characters from Night of the Living Dead.' – p53
‘we never heard anything more about that once the dispute was over. but give them their due, they’ve increased our hours. they now let us work an extra day every fortnight without additional pay.’
‘their way of showing they think highly of you all?’
‘they wouldn’t have asked us to do more work if they didn’t like the way we did it, would they?’
quite.'
– p58
'the parks used to described on maps as the Upper Pleasure Gardens and Lower Pleasure Gardens, but some councillor or other force of good realised the profound and unhealthy implications of placing Lower and Pleasure in such immediate proximity and successfully lobbied to have Lower removed from the title, so now you have the Upper Pleasure Gardens and the mere Pleasure Gradens, and lexical perverts have been banished to the beaches where they must find such gratification as they can by rubbing themselves on the groynes. anyway, that’s the kind of place Bournemouth is – genteel to a fault and proud of it.'
- p90, Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

XXXXXXXXX


National Geographic magazine scan from the 80s


Fur - The Debate:
Brix Smith-Start, owner of Start Boutique:
'i feel very conflicted about fur but i do wear it. i have a few vintage pieces my grandmother left me and i think buying vintage fur is fine. i totally respect people who have a strong viewpoint against fur, but i equally admire designers who use fur in their collections. the choice is out there so people should do what they feel is right.'
Hilary Alexander, Fashion Director - The Daily Telegraph:
'i wear a lot of fake and a little real fur, some of it vintage. i think we have to take different cultures into account and not impose viewpoints on people. the Inuit and some of the inhabitants of northern China and Kazakhstan, for example, could not survive below-zero temperatures without wearing fur. you could argue their wearing of fur is more ‘eco’ than the man-made substitutes.'
Todd Lynn, Designer:
'working with fur for the past few seasons, i’ve learnt a lot about the industry. i read every protest email that i receive and not one offers any real argument. they all say the same things: 1) animals raised for their fur are treated cruelly and inhumanely, and 2) fake fur is the same as real. one of the most important elements of the fur products i make is that the raw materials are ‘Origin Assured’. the skins can be traced back to the originating farm and i can be certain that proper measures were taken in raising the animals. there is little difference between raising an animal for fur or for produce – the animal dies and parts are used and parts aren't, so, will i wear fur ? yes. the argument that fake fur looks and feels the same as real fur is nonsense. and, if you believe fur is wrong, why perpetuate the image by wearing a fake version? no-one seems to attack things like pesticides used in the prdocution of cotton, which kill a multitude of wildlife. so, the t-shirt you are wearing was responsible for the death of many animals. no one seems to mind paying £2 for a t-shirt on the high street. do they wonder who had to suffer to make it at that price? it’s the same with fur. if it’s cheap, something is wrong. my fur isn’t cheap.
– p91, Elle Collections - AW10 Issue