British costume: Fashion through the ages

Fashion through ages

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Lee Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer known for his unconventional designs and shock tactics. McQueen worked as the head designer at Givenchy for five years before founding the Alexander McQueen and McQ labels. McQueen's dramatic designs, worn by celebrities including Björk, Lady Gaga and Rihanna, met with critical acclaim and earned him the British Designer of the Year award four times.
Career.While on Savile Row, McQueen's clients included Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles; McQueen recounted in an interview that he once sewed 'I am a cunt' into the lining of a jacket he was working on for Prince Charles. At the age of 20, he spent a period of time working for Koji Tatsuno before travelling to Milan, Italy and working for Romeo Gigli.
McQueen returned to London in 1994 and applied to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, to work as a pattern cutter tutor. Because of the strength of his portfolio he was persuaded by the Head of the Masters course to enrol in the course as a student. He received his masters degree in fashion design and his graduation collection was bought in its entirety by influential fashion stylist Isabella Blow, who was said to have persuaded McQueen to become known as Alexander (his middle name) when he subsequently launched his fashion career.
Icelandic singer Björk sought McQueen's work for the cover of her album Homogenic in 1997. McQueen also directed the music video for her song "Alarm Call" from the same album.
McQueen's early runway collections developed his reputation for controversy and shock tactics (earning the title "l'enfant terrible" and "the hooligan of English fashion"), with trousers aptly named "bumsters" and a collection entitled "Highland Rape". McQueen was known for his lavish, unconventional, runway shows, such as a recreation of a shipwreck for his spring 2003 collection, spring 2005's human chess game and his fall 2006 show, "Widows of Culloden", which featured a life-sized hologram of supermodel Kate Moss dressed in yards of rippling fabric.
McQueen's "bumsters" spawned a trend in low rise jeans; on their debut they attracted many comments and debate. Michael Oliveira-Salac, the director of Blow PR and a friend of McQueen's said that "The bumster for me is what defined McQueen."McQueen also became known for using skulls in his designs. A scarf bearing the motif became a celebrity must have and was copied around the world.
McQueen has been credited with bringing drama and extravagance to the catwalk. He used new technology and innovation to add a different twist to his shows and often shocked and surprised audiences. The silhouettes that he created have been credited for adding a sense of fantasy and rebellion to fashion. McQueen became one of the first designers to use Indian models in London.
McQueen also designed a range of dresses under the name of "manta", priced at around £2800. The line, named after the manta ray, was inspired by a holiday McQueen took in the Maldives in 2009. The designs have been worn by various models and celebrities, including Lily Cole.

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John Galliano

Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano Guillén, CBE, RDI (born 28 November 1960), professionally known as John Galliano, is a Gibraltarian-British fashion designer.
Born in Gibraltar, he grew up in London and launched his own label before becoming chief designer of France's haute couture flagship, Christian Dior, in Paris.
John Galliano has created the most spectacular fashion shows of our time. Since his 1984 degree collection, Les Incroyables, which metamorphosed his London art school into a French Revolutionary street scene, he has transported his privileged audiences to more exotic and sartorially blessed places than they could possibly have imagined or experienced.
Whether he chooses to transform the Opéra Garnier in Paris into a party thrown by the Venetian socialite, Marchesa Luisa Casati, or the none-too salubrious platforms of Gare d’Austerlitz into a Moroccan souk - complete with guest appearance from a couture-clad Princess Pocohontas - Galliano never fails to convince. This despite the fact that his references come from a dizzying array of rarely connected times, people and places. But then, John Galliano’s life has been rather richer than most – more often than not, the vivid colour in his shows have been experienced at source first hand.
He was born in Juan Carlos in 1960 in Gibraltar, his father’s homeland. His mother is Spanish and he first went to school in Spain, reaching it via Tangiers. "I think all that – the souks, the markets, woven fabrics, the carpets, the smells, the herbs, the Mediterranean colour, is where my love of textiles comes from," Galliano has said. In 1966, the family moved to Streatham in South London, where John’s father worked as a plumber. They then moved to Dulwich, which remains the family home to this day. Galliano attended Wilson’s Grammar School for Boys where his academic performance was, by all accounts, unremarkable. The same cannot be said of his appearance. The young John and his sisters, Rosemary and Immacula, were always dressed in immaculately pressed and starched clothes, even for trips to the corner shop.
"I don’t think people here understood where I was coming from," he said of his early days in South London. "And I certainly didn’t understand where they were coming from. It was quite a shock coming from that sort of family, that sort of colour. My mother brought it with her on the plane. You know, the religious aspect and all that was still with us when we were at home." It wasn’t until the 16 year-old Galliano moved to City and East London College to study design, that he discovered the arts and people "a bit more like me". From there, he went on to Central Saint Martins art school and a star was born. "I worked very hard. I was always in the library - sketching endlessly."
The inspiration for his first collection came from Danton, a National Theatre production on which he worked part-time as a dresser. There were jackets worn upside down and inside out – this was the early 1980s, deconstruction wasn’t yet part of the fashion vernacular – and romantic organdie shirts, accessorised with everything from magnifying glasses, smashed and worn as jewellery to rainbow-coloured ribbons sewn onto the insides of coats. "I was just so into that collection. It completely overtook me. I still love it. I love the romance, you know, charging through cobbled streets in all that amazing organdie. There are a lot of things in that collection that still haunt me."
Fashion retailer Joan Burstein was so impressed that she immediately gave the window of Browns, her London store, to the fledgling designer. The clothes flew off the rails. Despite the universal acclaim – even hysteria –in the next decade, not one, but two backers pulled out on Galliano. For several seasons, he couldn’t afford to show. In the early 1990s, disillusioned by the difficulties of running a fashion business in Britain, he moved to Paris. There, Anna Wintour, powerful editor-in-chief of American Vogue, took him under her wing and used her influence to secure him a backer (PaineWebber International) and a venue (São Schlumberger’s chicly crumbling mansion).
The invitation was a rusty key. The supermodels of the day - Kate Moss, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell - modelled for friendship rather than their customary five-figure fees. There were only 17 outfits put together at the last minute - all in black. (A few bolts of black fabric was all Galliano could afford.) But what outfits. The show was a monumental success – John Galliano had sealed his reputation as one of the great designers of his time.
One man who clearly understood Galliano’s genius was Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury conglomerate LVMH. By the mid-1990s, Galliano had reinvented the 1930s-line bias-cut dress and made it modern, as well as creating narrow, very feminine tailoring which was the envy of those less gifted. Yet it was still brave of Arnault to decide, in October 1995, to install John Galliano as chief designer of Givenchy. To the French fashion establishment, he seemed like a young upstart. The media was apoplectic and Givenchy hit the headlines. "I really couldn’t tell anyone about it," recalls Galliano. "Not even my mum and dad. If I told one person, that was it."
It wasn’t long before more rumours surfaced. Fellow British designer, Alexander McQueen, was to take over at Givenchy, leaving Galliano to move to the much larger and wealthier house – also controlled by Arnault – Christian Dior. Today, John Galliano designs a dozen collections a year. Dior’s flagship boutique in Paris is a veritable superstore where customers queue for everything from couture wedding dresses to shoes, and fragrances: ever-anxious to buy into the image of the house that Galliano has re-created.
This is not surprising because John Galliano is fashion’s great romantic. From his fantastical clothes, to his colourful background, Galliano’s charmed rise to fame reads not unlike a fairy tale. His genius is his ability to communicate this through his clothes. He also has immense ambition. Behind his gentle aesthetic, John Galliano is a powerhouse, a man whose ambition to go down in history as one of fashion’s great is awesome, even intimidating. His long-time creative collaborator Amanda Harlech once described disagreeing with him thus: "I did only once and I can only compare it to being hit by a massive surfing wave. His indifference was absolute."

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Stella Nina McCartney

Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.
Career Stella McCartney became interested in designing clothes at age 13, when she made her first jacket. Three years later, she interned for Christian Lacroix, working on his first fashion design collection, honing her skills working for Edward Sexton, her father's Savile Row tailor for a number of years.
She studied her foundation at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, fashion design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in the early 1990s. Her graduation collection in 1995 was modelled by friends and supermodels Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon and Kate Moss – for free – at the graduation runway show. The collection was shown to a song penned by her famous father, called "Stella May Day." The show made front-page news, and the entire collection was sold to Tokio, a London boutique. The designs were licensed to Browns, Joseph, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. In 1998 she designed her sister Mary's wedding dress for her wedding to television producer Alistair Donald.
A lacto-ovo-vegetarian, McCartney does not use fur or leather in her designs and supports PETA. Some of McCartney's designs have text that elaborates on her "no animal" policy; for example, one of her jackets for Adidas says, "suitable for sporty vegetarians" on the sleeve. Her father is also known for supporting PETA by protesting against designers who use animal fur and those who wear it. Stella does use wool, silk, and other animal-derived fabrics in her designs.
Chloé, Gucci, CARE In March 1997 McCartney was appointed Creative Director of Paris fashion house Chloé, following in the footsteps of Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld was less than impressed with the house's choice, famously stating, "Chloé should have taken a big name. They did, but in music, not fashion. Let's hope she's as gifted as her father." Despite initial skepticism, McCartney's designs have enjoyed considerable commercial and critical success. She was accompanied to Chloé by her assistant and friend Phoebe Philo, who later replaced her as design director.
In 2001, McCartney resigned from Chloé in order to enter into an eponymous joint venture with Gucci. The line has four stores; one in New York City which opened September 2002, one in Mayfair, which opened April 2004, one in Los Angeles which she opened on her birthday in September 2005 and included an expansion into the perfume market, and most recently one in Hong Kong, which opened in 2008. In 2009 Stella launches store in Paris in the heart of the Jardins du Palais Royal.
Stella McCartney received the VH1/Vogue Designer of the Year award in 2000. Paul McCartney presented the award to his daughter. She thanked him in her acceptance speech and dedicated the award to her late mother.In 2000 McCartney designed Madonna's wedding dress for her marriage to Guy Ritchie. Her older sister, Mary, served as the wedding photographer.
In January 2007, McCartney launched a skincare line called CARE. The 100% organic line includes seven products, from a cleansing milk made with lemon balm and apricot to green tea and linden blossom floral water. Dutch model Bette Franke stars in the line's advertisements.

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Dame Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI (born 8 April 1941) is a British fashion designer largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in the village of Tintwistle, Derbyshire on 8 April 1941.
Artistic collections. The first major retrospective of her work was shown in 2004–5 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the National Gallery of Australia. The exhibition, created from approximately 145 complete outfits grouped into the themes from the early 1970s to the present day, was drawn from her own personal archive and the V&A's extensive collection. They range from early punk garments to glamorous "historical" evening gowns.
Her Autumn/Winter 2005/06 Propaganda Collection drew inspiration from her archive, reinterpreting designs using Wolford's exclusive knitting technology. Westwood has worked in close collaboration with Wolford since 2003. In 2006, she collaborated with Nine West, whose shoes are not designed directly by Westwood, however the Nine West brand name shares its label with Westwood. Westwood's Gold Label and MAN hats are created by Prudence Millinery. In December 2003, she and the Wedgwood pottery company launched a series of tea sets featuring her designs.
Recognition. In 2007 Glossopdale Community College named one of its newly created houses, "Westwood", after the designer.[citation needed] Singer Gwen Stefani regularly mentions Westwood on her 2004 album Love. Angel. Music. Baby., in particular on the tracks "Rich Girl" and "Harajuku Girls". In a later interview Stefani told of how Westwood is her favourite designers, saying "Vivienne Westwood is one of my all-time favourites. I'd give all my money to her and buy all her clothes!"
In 1992 Westwood was awarded an OBE, which she collected from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. At the ceremony, Westwood was knicker-less, which was later captured by a photographer in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace. Westwood later said "I wished to show off my outfit by twirling the skirt. It did not occur to me that, as the photographers were practically on their knees, the result would be more glamorous than I expected", and added "I have heard that the picture amused the Queen". Westwood advanced from OBE to DBE in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for services to fashion, and has thrice earned the award for British Designer of the Year. Westwood is the godmother of highfashion model and socialite lady Elissa Spencer-Wilhelmsen Ainsworth, and was the one who discovered designer Rosamund Lodge-Ainsworth who happens to be Lady Elissa's sister-in-law, after marrying lord Philip Spencer-Wilhelmsen Ainsworth. Westwood and the bride designed the wedding dress and she attended the wedding with her sons.

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Norman Hartnell

Norman Hartnell was born in 1901. At a very early age it was clear that he had a great talent for drawing and design, but it was while he was studying Architecture at Cambridge that he started to design clothes . After University Norman started in the fashion trade, opening a salon at No.10 Bruton Street. Early clients included actors Noel Coward and Gertie Lawrence and author Barbara Cartland. In fact he dressed many of the 'superstars' of the time, including Isabel Jeans, Greer Garson, Merle Oberon, Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich and Vivienne Leigh. In 1935 came the first Royal commission, to create the wedding dress for the marriage of the Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montague Dougal Scott and the dresses for the bridesmaids, including the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. This was the first of many commissions for the Royal family culminated in his most famous, that for the Coronation Dress of Queen Elizabeth II. Hartnell continued to make for the great people of international society; until he passed away in 1979. As a designer, Norman Hartnell had the couturier's ultimate gift, that of being able to create wonderfully original ideas that would reflect the wearer's personality. He is most famous for the numerous elegant outfits made for the Royal Family, in particular Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and for the clothing he created for the stars of his day to wear on and off stage. His style was glamorous, highly sophisticated and complex - he regarded simplicity "as the death of the soul" and yet his evening gowns were legendary for their elegance. His use of sequins, extravagant fringes and other adornments gave a level of complexity to his creations that made the wearer sure in the knowledge that wherever they went, they would make an impact. Couture Couture clothing has always been central to the Hartnell business. Stunning clothes that made the wearer shimmer with a subtle glamour; clothing that adorned princesses, silver screen legends and the wealthy socialites of London and Hollywood. Hartnell became known for the glamour and assurance of his clothes and by 1939 was making 2000 gowns per year for private customers. He dressed the elite of society for more than five decades.

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