V & A gives Art Textiles inspiration
Art Textiles students visited London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the V & A, for inspiration on their upcoming projects.
The girls started with a retrospective of the work of ground breaking fashion designer Mary Quant. They quickly noted that Quant’s designs and new mass production methods meant that ordinary people could to access up-to-the-minute fashion trends for the first time in history. This had a democratising effect on both the classes and on age groups. Quant herself called the rise of the teenager the “youthquake”.
After the exhibition, the group travelled to Berwick Street where a range of high-end fabric shops were explored. The girls said it was inspiring as some of the fabrics are £200 per metre – a reflection of the time and expertise needed to produce them. Though not the most expensive available, these are far more exclusive than anything we are able to source locally.
Trip leader and Art Textiles teacher Ms Louise Pike said: “Walking around Soho and absorbing the culture was also very inspiring and will feed into their textiles projects in the future.”
