The Haute Couture shows closed last week, and we have already re-focused our minds on the next ready-to-wear catwalks that will start in a few days' time. If, rather than being superficially involved in the fashion circus, you want to discover more about textiles or you want to start creating something yourself, there are some appointments that you may not want to miss.
A new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum (FTM) in London will celebrate the history of 20th century art in textiles. Opening this Friday, "Artist Textiles - Picasso to Warhol" (until 17th May 2014) will focus on the collaboration between artists and manufacturers, and will include works by Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse and Joan Miró among the others.
The pieces showcased (over 200) will give the chance to explore European and American art movements - such as Fauvism, Cubism, Constructivism, Abstraction, Surrealism and Pop Art - and the work of leading artists for famous manufacturers.
The event includes both clothing and home furnishings with samples of Henri Matisse's designs for Ascher, a company that brought some much needed vitality into fabrics enlisting from 1946 on painters and sculptors to design prints for silk and rayon dress fabrics; Salvador Dali (who designed scarves inspired by his unfinished six-minute cartoon Destino developed in collaboration with Walt Disney), and Marcel Vertès for Wesley Simpson Custom Fabrics.
Fuller Fabrics had an entire "Modern Master Prints" series featuring Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall among the others, while some of the best patterns for Horrockses Fashions were created by artists William Gear, Eduardo Paolozzi and Graham Sutherland.
The event assumes a new meaning after Maison Martin Margiela upcycled fabrics by Mariano Fortuny, Frank Lloyd Wright and Raoul Dufy in the Spring/Summer 2014 collection for its Artisanal Line.
The fashion and art connection continues at the FTM with a knitting workshop (that will start in April) inspired by Sonia Delaunay.
Teacher Rosalia Marasco will help participants (the course is aimed at beginners, though all levels are welcome to join in) knitting a scarf referencing Delaunay's artworks and textiles and her use of colours and geometrical shapes.
Based at the museum and FTM café, the workshop will last for roughly 6 weeks and will allow participants to learn basic stitches to get started and continue working on their personal projects in class and in their own time. You can check out further information on prices and booking availability here.
There are some good news also at Palazzo Mocenigo, in Venice. The HQ of the Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes offers as usual tours of its collections. The tour schedule for tomorrow will focus on fashion in the 1700s, but, from now on, the museum will also be able to take visitors on a special visiti to the Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, where they still produce handmade textiles with natural fibres using original looms from the 1700s and 1800s.
Readers may remember how fashion designer Yiqing Yin closely worked with Bevilacqua last year for her Autumn/Winter 2013-14 Haute Couture collection and for an installation at the Venice Art Biennale).
The visits at the Tessitura Bevilacqua are available both in Italian and English on the last Friday of the month (groups leave from Palazzo Mocenigo at 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.; bookings are recommended). We will hopefully see in future more historical companies like Bevilacqua opening their spaces to fashion tourists with a genuine interest in textiles.
Image credits
1. "Belle Fleurs", furnishing fabric designed by Chagall, produced for Fuller Fabrics, circa 1956.
2. "Flower Ballet", a textile designed by Salvador Dali, printed by Wesley Simpson, circa 1947.
3. A screen-printed rayon headsquare designed by Marcel Vertès for Wesley Simpson Custom Fabrics Inc., circa 1944.
4. Dress by Horrockses with textiles designed by Eduardo Paolozzi, 1953.
5. Sonia Delaunay, Rhythme, 1938.
6. Gloves from the 1700s collection at Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice.
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