In 2019 Susannah Frankel, via an AnOther magazine email interview, asked Rei Kawakubo, "How important is craft to you, the physical act of making clothes?" RK replied, "I want to try to make things that have never existed, no matter how that may be achieved. That is all I ever try to do."

Many times Kawakubo explores the sculptural and spatial to be found within clothing. She creates form through the craft of cutting, shaping and sewing. As Aaron Betsky wrote, "Like turning a man's double-breasted Prince of Wales checked suit...creating a shape that over exposed what such a suit was meant to express."

A little information concerning the P of W check. 

Prince of Wales check or Glenurquhart plaid is a woollen fabric with a woven twill design of small and large checks. The name comes from the Glenurquhat Estate in Inverness-shire, Scotland, where the checked pattern was first used during the 1840s by the Countess of Seafield to fit out her gamekeepers. It was made famous by King Edward the VII, when he was Prince of Wales. Later, the Duke of Windsor further popularized it, when he was Prince of Wales.

A classic double-breasted Prince of Wales check suit.

And CdG's  2013, 'The Infinity of Tailoring' collection recreation, that Betsky was referring to. Isn't it something!

And, could this jacket from the fall 2014 Monster collection also be P of W check, it's not super clear, but it's a greatly "crafted CdG" jacket.

Here is a fabulous CdG jacket with a Glen Plaid lapel section (the sleeves could be as well)

which, I think comes out of this amazingly crafted creation from the CdG spring summer 2018 'Multi dimensional graffiti' collection.

But you know I actually think this is the most beautifully crafted jacket to come out of the collection. It's not Glen plaid, but it's look of a jacket under a jacket totally captivates me. The interesting sleeve feature on the outer one, and how have they done that sleeve section, with the buttons, on the under one. It looks a fascinating cut, and the buttoning up of the jacket then lifting the collar, nice.

Just before leaving Glen plaid, this is something for film buffs and the sartorially inspired. Gary Grant wore a grey suit in a subtle Glen plaid during the 1959 film, North by Northwest, and here are 2 guys really getting into a great discussion about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=UFI7BkE-CJ0

This wee doco about recreating the suit, is lots of fun. The craft of tailoring a suit jacket is impressive. Plaid is mentioned, but not actually Glen plaid, never mind.

https://chriskerr.com/recreating-the-north-by-northwest-suit/

Craft: An art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially artistic and manual skill.

While some argue that craft is a form of skilled manual labour focused on functionality and practicality, and fine art is a form of creative expression focused on aesthetics and intellectual content, others maintain that the line between the two is blurred and subjective.

The London Craft Council, where I have spent many a happy hour,

has the mission statement: We believe craft skills and knowledge enrich and uplift us as individuals and can change our world for the better.

I couldn't agree more!

And the work the Craft Council is doing to encourage more making is always inspiring, especially their: 'Material World 

Make a Sustainable Future'

Craft Council's Craft School, an annual challenge to get schools making again. It's all about 

Make First, use hand skills to explore materials, take risks and make 3D forms in response to 3 themes:

1) Renewable Materials. Making using found materials to explore local habitats and nature.

2) Creative Mending. Explore ways to mend and combine materials to give them new life.

3) Reclaim and Reuse. Save materials that would otherwise become waste to tackle sustainably climate justice and making practices from around the world.

I am particularly interested in Stitches Academy's response to this challenge. They sound an interesting school of making. They have something going that I would love to be a part of. "Passionate about teaching and developing skills in all textiles based disciplines. Dressmaking, printing, dyeing, weaving, fashion illustration, pattern cutting and so much more..." All the things I delivered in my MC classroom. 

Check them out re Crafts Council Material World    

https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/learning/craft-school/material-world/stitches-academy

Here are 2 wonderful works of cool craft, from students I worked with at MC

Aline's delightfully embroidered shoulder bag reflecting a "cottage core aesthetic". This aesthetic celebrates simple living, rooted in traditional skills.

And, Molly's fabulous 'Frankenstein Monster Dress', constructed from leftover fabrics pieces. It was a wonderfully crafted metamorphosis of garment creation.

Before moving on...I love this image, I have it up on my whiteboard, where I post the layout of the day's lesson.

Maija Nygen, of Almaborealis  'Create. Think. Play. Learn. Grow.' absolutely embodies this and it's totally embedded in Craft. 

The most wonderful wearable puzzles, which a child can playfully assemble together using a tactile tool kit, while learning the life skills of dexterity, creative thinking and problem-solving. The whole concept is the most fabulous celebration of traditional craft skills. Take a joyful look through the site, and be inspired!

https://www.almaborealis.com/

Here is my personal statement regard 'craft'

"All the resources I work with, needle, sewing machine, cloth, thread, paper, pencil, set-square, plus what I do with them, I call 'my craft'. Working with my craft is the main way I express myself in life. I draw and write with needle, thread and fabric. It takes time, precision and endurance. I am a 21st Century Needlewoman!"

One of my latest expressions, worked with fabric given to me, is this plaid patch dress,

which I have followed up with a customised hand bag. The original came into my hands from a colleague at work who gave a lovely array of cheeses to Eric, as a thank you for a little job done. The bag was strongly structured from hessian with a logo embellishment, which I have covered and now made my own to wear with my plaid patch dress.

In the 2018 Spring collections, a number of designers were keen on expressing the aesthetic of craft.

Dior

Loewe

Loewe creative director, Jonathon Anderson said, "Craft is integral to design; it's how you learn what something is about, how it works, about the materials." "There's a genuine living spirit in a handmade thing that makes it worth hanging onto."

Anderson is right behind craft and fashion. In 2013 he set up Loewe's annual Craft prize, saying, "It's about being associated with something....trying to define ourselves not through image, but with a skill...

When I joined Loewe, I wanted to set this prize up because I would be in the factory and see people who work in my team sit there painstakingly making bags - I mean hours and hours - and we forget that. We have teams of craftspeople refining and refining... the hours that goes into making a bag is crazy. I thought, how can I do something which I love and shed light on things that should have more light on it?"

Nice one Jonathon Anderson, seriously thinking about your craftspeople, your workers, Impressive!

In 2018, 'Le Kilt' designer Samantha McCoach decided to show her collection during the London Craft Week as opposed to London Fashion Week.

Samantha McCoach"s Italian grandmother was a traditional kilt maker for 40 years, and Samantha would often sit and watch her work her craft. The aim of 'Le Kilt' is to modernise traditional kilt-making processes, but craftsmanship remains central to its practice.

Samantha McCoach says, "We think it is important to draw parallels between craft and fashion to remind people of its importance, particularly in the age of fast fashion. As a small brand....our dedication to craft is a very purposeful attempt at helping people to understand the work and time that goes into making clothing."

This is an excellent site, 'NGV Fashion Friday's', and this particular one includes Samantha McCoach. The other two designers are just as interesting. It is highly informative, with wonderful descriptions of the designers work. All three designers have a strong grounding in craft.

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/program/fashion-fridays-fashion-conscious-recent-acquisitions-of-new-british-designers/

Earlier this year, there was a headline, 'Craft Takes Centre Stage at London College of Fashion'. 

Two young designer students presented rather exciting collections, which reflected an appreciation of craft.

Emily Saunders has a background experience of working alongside traditional milliners in Luton. She incorporated aspects of this craft into her collection, that focused on, 'owning one's space as a woman'. Fascinating!

Mariia Pavlyk, embraced her traditional craft by handweaving pieces of the collection, using a technique she was taught by a small community of women in Ukraine. Sounds so interesting, and so appreciative of what has gone before and not wanting it to be lost.

And some inspirational New Zealand designers, who expressed the concept of craft into their collections:

Wellington sustainable textile artist, Anna Hicks, is passionate about sustainability and the health benefits of creativity. For her 2013 Massey graduation collection, she presented the glorious 'Metamorphostitch', an upcycling of handcrafts into fashion.

This is a neat site to view Hicks collection in a bit more detail. I appreciate the 'Postcards' section, as each postcard gives a hint of what that garment has come from. Such creative and clever work.

https://www.annahicks.co.nz/graduatecollection

And, Hilary Ng, who in 2015 won the ECC NZ Student Craft/Design Award for a fabulous experimental fashion collection 'Ng', which worked with the craft of pattern cutting. 

In this small collection, Hilary Ng explored the creating and controlling of volume and fullness through patternmaking techniques. She wanted to see what was possible with pattern cutting and construction techniques, as opposed to relying on rigid fabrics or underlying structure to hold the shape. Love it!

'The Art of Craftsmanship' is a wonderful collaboration with photographer Tim Walker and Tod's, the Italian luxury footwear, apparel and accessories company.

The collaboration produced great images of the tools, products, quality and tradition that deliver Tod's craftsmanship.

https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/tim-walker-tods-the-art-of-craftsmanship-exhibition-milan-design-week-2023/

Here is a very informative craft fanzine, which you can peruse

https://issuu.com/fashionrevolution/docs/issue_fanzine04_fashioncraftrevolution_240x170_sin

This is one of the most pertinent sections for me, an excellent flowchart working out cultural appropriateness. I know I have made mistakes in the past.

A little display I have put up in my TC classroom. The felt letters come from the Craftivist group I tried to get up and running at MC. I didn't want them to go to waste. I spelled out this phrase alongside the embroidery frame, which relates to my 'SewRound' website. It might inspire someone.

https://sites.google.com/site/wwwsewroundcom

Much of my blog has demonstrated craft and creativity being one and the same. 

I relate to this comment from Denise Shekerjian. "The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about it, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then to settle down to work with it for a good long time. Everyone has the aptitude for something. The trick is to recognize it, to honor it, to work with it. This is where creativity starts."

This banner is my last word.

SLTSLTBsigning off.

I have recently come across the work of the young American photographer, Francesca Woodman.

It was this shot that sparked my interest. 

Untitled, from the Caryatid series, 1980

Column-like, I thought.

Two more of her photos, with columns.

Untitled 1977-78

Untitled 1979-80

That first 'Untitled, 1980' image was used as a section in Woodman's architectural caryatid work.

Architectural caryatids are the female figures that serve as support for the entablature of a building. 

Athens Acropolis

Woodman produced her version in 'Blueprint for a Temple' (1980), a collage of 29 photographs printed on architect's blueprint paper. She posed friends as caryatids supporting a building Woodman created from stitched-together images of a New York apartment.

Sadly, Francesca Woodman took her own life in 1981, at the age of 22. So young!

This link will provide you with more in-depth information about Francesca's life and work.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211209-francesca-woodman-the-eerie-images-of-a-teenage-genius

Columns and Clothing

An interesting concept.

The Greeks and Romans produced a connection in building and personal dress. The folds of their clothing fell like plumb-lines, as did the clean straight columns they constructed up from the ground. Their clothing had a sense of order, like their villas and temples.

Column: An upright pillar, typical cylindrical, supporting an arch, entablature or other structure, or standing alone as a monument.

From pillar to post to pole to support to vertical to baluster.

The classical column orders of Architecture found in ancient Greece are Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

The Romans introduced Tuscan and Composite.

• Doric emphasized simplicity
• Ionic introduced slender and graceful sophistication
• Corinthian demonstrated ornate grandeur
• Tuscan refined simplicity
• Composite blended Ionic & Corinthian components

This video will enable you to learn more, if you are so inclined.

A well known London landmark is a column of the Corinthian order, built from Dartmoor granite, designed by William Railton and constructed between 1840 - 1843.

The actual statue of Nelson was carved from Craigleith sandstone, by the sculptor, Edward Hodges Baily.

Column can also refer to a female body shape,

and, a dress silhouette. 

It is a simple and straight style of dress that hangs down from the shoulders with little or no waist definition. It falls straight to the hemline, which is generally past the knee, creating the column-like silhouette. Its simplicity is its beauty and vis versa.

A lovely column cape dress, designed by Maria Moscone. I like the way the cape is sewn into the back hem and sweeps up round onto the front neckline, plus its' being lined in green. I also love it being worn with loafers! 

Makes a very cool evening ensemble.

A CdG white column dress

Hey, it rings bells with this column dress I made years ago.

Love this CdG column dress.

And, the column dresses from the CdG S/S 1998 'Clustering Beauty' are quite divine.

The most wonderful pleating work. I wouldn't want to sit down, if I was wearing one.

They have an off-white cotton lawn base, with nine layers of identical fabric pleated and sewn together as bodice and skirt. 

This a lovely photograph of one of the above dresses, all tied up in beautiful bows, a special way to present it, don't you think.

Another interesting column dress from CdG

And this one from the Fall 2015/16 'Ceremony of Separation' collection

In Chanel's 2017/18 S/S, 'The Modernity of Antiquity' collection, Lagerfeld looked to classical Greece for inspiration. The Grand Palais of Paris was transformed into a set of ancient ruins and Doric columns.

 

A couple of Grecian style column dresses,

and, even column heel shoes, which look Ionic to me.

I was interested to read this particular piece about the collection, "Dresses embroidered with spirals, a symbol of movement, life and energy..."

That comment took me back to another cool piece from the CdG 'Clustering Beauty' collection,

and I am thinking it is cut from a spiral pattern.

Thought I would give it a go. 

Tested it out first.

Want it a bigger scale.

Here's the pattern.

Pinned it onto calico.

Cut it out and create this, a cascading calico shawl..

over a black column dress.

This is the Palladium Dress designed by Gionfranco Ferre, for a 1992 Spring/Summer Christian Dior collection. It takes its name from Andrea Palladio, an Italian late Renaissance architect of the Venetian School. He often used columns to emphasis the plane of a wall, making them a decorative relief.

In 2013, Rei Kawakubo established Dover Street Market New York, on the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 30th Street. One aspect of the structural concept was described "overtly architectural gesture is the imposition of columns-non-load-bearing-that go from the ground floor to the sixth floor. It's like they are there as visual punctuation marks, which serve as surfaces for artwork".

Like artwork by Magda Sayeg, founder of "Knitta Please", and one of the prime instigators of yarn bombing.

It is interesting to read this interview, where Magda Sayeg talks about her collaboration with Comme des Garcons and what she learnt from it.

"You did the column at Dover Street Market here in New York, right?

 Yes.

I love that column. It’s amazing.

She’s incredible and I learned a lot and I’m not afraid to tell you that my work is better because of that experience with her. That whole experience was four years of art school for me. That’s the only way I can really truly describe it because of course it didn’t go seamless. There were things that, at first, I didn’t know I was supposed to cover these certain corners properly and there was a little bit of back and forth like, “no, this isn’t exactly it.” This is what I’ll tell you and why I love working with people like her: they hired me because they liked my work but when I found out that she hired me, I wanted to be more than my work. I wanted to do things outrageously. I wanted to just try harder. And at one point they were like, “we hired you because of your work. Why are you trying to do something different from your work,” and I just wanted to sit there and cry because it was so true. I was like, “you’re right, I don’t know why I’m trying to do something different. I guess I’m just trying to impress you and it’s not working.”

One last caryatid, Blenheim Palace.

Their  'Icons of British Fashion' exhibition, 23  March - 30 June, 2024, features top notch British designers and labels, with each fashion house taking over one of the rooms. It is described as a celebration of fashion from the past through to the present. This link will give you some idea.

https://www.blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/events/icons-of-british-fashion/behind-the-scenes/ 

An interesting column reference, for the lover of film. 

This link is an interview with filmmaker Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright, Arthur Miller and photographer, Inge Morath. Among a number of other things, Miller talks about Frances McDormand, in the film 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'..."where she's so still and has no extra Corinthian manifestations, you know, like on a column, 

where you see all the little...ornaments...extra elements...whereas she's just simple, just a simple column...of feeling and attention, and I thought that was really interesting..."

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5515-adventures-in-moviegoing-with-rebecca-miller

Columns to columnists.

A columnist is someone who writes a regular article for a newspaper or magazine. These regular articles on a specific subject or theme, often express the columnist's personal views or perspectives. 

A journalist reports facts and events, whereas a columnist aims to persuade, entertain, or inform their readers with their opinions, anecdotes, or analysis.

I am watching 'Feud: Capote vs. The Swans', the 2022 2nd season of the American drama television series. Talking about it with a friend, reminded me of the 2017 1st season, 'Bette & Joan', the rivalry between Hollywood actresses, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. 

Actress Judy Davis, played gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper, she of amazing hats, cutting comments and right wing conservatism.

Interested to know more about what a gossip columnist is capable of...

https://screenrant.com/hedda-hopper-hollywood-gossip-columnist-facts/

What about NZ's very own, who came out of the 1980s Metro magazine.

Felicity Ferret!

Here's a wee blast from the 80s past. 'Midweek with Holmes' on the Ferret.

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/midweek-with-holmes-felicity-ferret-1989

And, a 2017 Stuff article, 'The death of gossip in NZ'

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/96988656/word-is-out-the-death-of-gossip-in-new-zealand

Advice Columnists, are you into them? 

Read this article and see what you think.

https://lithub.com/how-the-advice-columnist-conquered-america/

Yeah, forget the Agony Aunt columnist, go for the Ecstasy Aunt columnist instead, Time Out London, May, 2004.

My experience with columnists started with Rosemary McLeod. I remember the column she wrote for the 'Eve' magazine, which was published between 1966 -75.

Rosemary McLeod contributed cool illustrations and comments regarding the NZ fashion scene. I believe it may have been the very beginnings of my journey to becoming the "21st Century Needlewoman" that I have become. 

I have no record of her work from that era, but here is an interesting column she wrote relating to Simone Biles exit from the 2021 Olympics.

https://womanmagazine.co.nz/rosemary-mcleod-reflects-on-the-public-reaction-to-simone-biles-olympic-exit/

My other columnist is Diana Wichtel and her Listener column. I enjoyed her way with words, when she was reflecting on various television programmes, like the final Breaking Bad episode - Breaking mad - Breaking sad - Breaking dad.

And, columnist Steve Braunias, in this link, an initial connection to Rosemary McLeod, and just such an interesting article to read, relating to NZ's literary past. 

https://newsroom.co.nz/2022/06/05/oh-dear-again/

My last column.

A column of old suitcases, snapped by a friend, who was browsing in a Waihi second hand store. 

I love it.

Sltsltbsigning off.

Can't resist this for a Post Script.

This 1946 edition reflects a wonderfully artistic approach to the book's subject matter.

And, how's this for a latest CdG column dress, from the SS 2025 collection...