Zandra Rhodes: My Life in Fashion
- Written byNaomi Richmond-Swift
- Published date 09 March 2023
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This week on International Women's Day John Princes Street had a very special guest in the form of fashion industry pioneer Zandra Rhodes, who came to give a talk for London College of Fashion partner The Textile Institute.
Zandra talked about being influenced by her mother who taught in an art school, then developing her first collection of prints which were based on the design of medals. These sold to Heals in 1964 when she graduated from the Royal College of Art, though she did not know then that she would work in fashion until she set up a shop on Fulham Road in 1967.
The audience was treated to a journey through Zandra’s developing collections as she visited Australia, America, Mexico, and Paris which all shaped her designs and prints, such as a 1971 Ayres Rock collection, a range of sombreros and the ‘button flower’ which she found in a Paris flea market. Zandra has been a regular visitor to New York where she created her iconic feather prints and ranges of wallpaper and home fabrics after a meeting with Halston’s interior designer Angelo Donghia.
We toured her punk collection from 1977 which focused on a jewelled safety pin, ten years before the famous Elizabeth Hurley Versace dress. We also looked at her designs for celebrities such as Freddie Mercury, Bianca Jagger and Royal clients such as Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana’s pink dress for the announcement that she was pregnant with Prince William. Zandra was part of a small group invited to design the wedding dress for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, though her idea in gold was not chosen for the final design. After all, Emilio Pucci had recommended to her, ‘why don’t you design in black and white?’ She told us that her career was a series of ups and downs, as ‘fashion is very demanding – every season you have to come up with something different.’
Zandra founded the Fashion and Textiles Museum in Bermondsey in 2003, commissioning a Mexican architect for the striking pink and orange building design and her prints are still made in the studio there. As Zandra explained, 'big name small business,' and when asked what motivates her at 86 to keep creating new work, 'I wasn't trained in relaxing.'
LCF students can watch a recording of this event by logging into Moodle.