We are back with the Woolmark project! After tidying through the current records of the collection and beginning to conduct research into the individual pieces and their origins, I have collated the below information. This has been a really fascinating project so far and it is really exciting to unravel the histories of these garments as well as the histories of their designers.
A variety of designers and manufacturers were involved in the creation of this collection and whilst many of the individual names of sewing machinists, weavers, and dyers are either lost to history or were simply never properly recorded, looking at the information we do have still provides a great insight into who the people and businesses were behind these garments, as well as the enduring diversity, creativity and determination found within the British fashion and textiles industry. Below I have highlighted some of the designers and manufacturers who were part of this collection, though these histories are by no means definitive, nor do they cover 100% of the lives of these people.
Bruce Oldfield Taylor and Lodge
Born in 1950, Bruce Oldfield was raised in the care of children’s charity Barnardo’s and later by his foster mother Violet Masters at her house in Durham; this is where he first learned to sew. Following this, Oldfield went to art college and then on to Central St. Martin’s in London to study fashion, from which he graduated in 1973. During his studies, Oldfield developed a keen interest in smocking and patterning his garments in a more sculptural format on the dummy as opposed to using more traditional flat patterning methods.
Oldfield continued to design following his graduation, beginning to create for major clients such as Joan Collins and eventually Diana, then Princess of Wales, whom he designed for throughout the 1980s. Since then, he has continued to maintain a small-scale operation of high-class design and in 2023 designed the coronation gown for Queen Camilla.
Founded in 1883, by Thomas William Taylor and John Thomas Lodge, in the Lockwood area of Huddersfield, where they still produce and finish textiles today. Producers of worsted wool textiles, which is woven and finished in their mill in Huddersfield, Taylor and Lodge has provided cloth to a variety of major clients on Saville Row as well as Bruce Oldfield for his part of this collection.
Arabella Pollen & Linton Tweeds
Born in 1961, Arabella Pollen is the daughter of a former chairman of the art auctioneers Sotheby’s and a descendant of the Pollen Baronetcy. Throughout the 1980s, much like Oldfield, Pollen also designed several pieces for Princess Diana; as well as designing for Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, pioneering the ‘Virgin Red’ uniforms. At the same time as her garments being exhibited as part of the British Food and Farming Year, Pollen was nominated for Designer of the Year 1989.
Since the British Food and Farming Year 1989, Pollen has moved away from designing and into writing. She has written several novels and has written pieces of journalism for a variety of publications including Vogue.
Linton Tweeds was founded in 1912 by William Linton, who initially employed two salesmen to travel around the Lake District to buy wool and subsequently sell the textiles from this wool. Through a mutual friend, Linton became acquainted with the now legendary designer Coco Chanel in the 1920s, who became one of Linton Tweed’s biggest and longest-standing clients.
Linton Tweeds has expanded over the decades, survived both World Wars, and financial instability, to become a global brand, selling textiles in both the US and Japanese markets, whilst maintaining a strong textile presence in Britain.
Tommy Nutter
Tommy Nutter was born in 1943. The son of two Welsh café owners, Nutter opened his first store in 1969 with then business partner Edward Sexton; an endeavour which was backed by close friend Cilla Black. Nutter designed for musicians and popstars such as Elton John, the Beatles, and Mick Jagger throughout the 60s, and would later design and produce 20 suits for Elton John’s lavish wedding.
In 1989, the same year he featured in the British Food and Farming Year 1989, Nutter’s tailoring also featured on the character of the Joker in the Tim Burton-directed film Batman. Sadly, Tommy Nutter’s story came to a close shortly after this as in 1992 he passed away following complications from HIV/AIDS.
Hardy Amies (Edwin Hardy Amies)
Born Edwin Hardy Amies in 1909, Amies began his career as a couturier at Lachasse in 1934, before notably contributing to the ‘utility’ scheme during the Second World War. Following this, he began his label on Saville Row in 1945, although, unlike today, he specialized in womenswear; controversially, Amies’ early foray into menswear saw him put out a ready-to-wear collection in 1959 which was otherwise unheard of in the bespoke culture of Saville Row.
Perhaps the most notable of his clients, Amies designed for Queen Elizabeth II from 1946 right up until his retirement in 1989. As well as dressing the queen for much of her life, Amies also designed for the winning 1966 English World Cup team, and the costumes for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Mulberry 1989
Mulberry was founded in 1971 by Roger Saul, with help from his mother Joan, in their home in Somerset. It has since become the largest manufacturer of luxury leather goods in the United Kingdom, with over 50% of its bags still being manufactured in its flagship factory in Somerset; a factory that was opened in 1989, the same year Saul saw Mulberry’s designs featured in the British Food and Farming Year.
Margaret Howell
‘relaxed and lived in’
A fine art graduate from Goldsmith’s College in 1969, Margaret Howell began her label designing with British heritage materials such as Harris Tweed and English Worsteds, in her own words she has a great love for British industrial heritage and this is something which is reflected in her continued use of these heritage materials and calls back to tradition in her design work.
From beginning her design career alongside Joseph Ettedgui in 1976, and opening her independently owned shop in St Christopher’s Place in 1980, Howell has continued to grow and expand her business, now being sold across the globe in places like Paris, Tokyo and Florence.
Graham Smith
Kent-born milliner Graham Smith began his design career following his graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1959. He worked for Lanvin in Paris, among others, before establishing his own company in 1967. In the 1980s, Smith worked for the Kangol Hat Company, and throughout the decade designed for both Princess Diana and the Duchess of York.
Since creating the hats made as part of Bruce Oldfield’s and Arabella Pollen’s outfits for the British Food and Farming Year, Smith has gone on to work as a Millinery Consultant for the British Home Stores brand, as well as having his work featured in other exhibitions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Hats: An Anthology
To Conclude…
The garments we have in the archive from the British Food and Farming Collection are made mostly from wool and are almost all created from a woven textile. The designs of these garments are a testament to the skill and craftsmanship of the designers as well as the various mills and machinists involved in their creation. This display of British design and manufacturing would surely have made this collection of garments a fantastic addition to the British Food and Farming Year events of 1989.
Delving into the history of these items of clothing and really getting to grips with the process of researching and documenting their origins and how they came to be has been a fantastic experience so far and I’m looking forward to continuing with this project!
References
https://www.margarethowell.co.uk/about
https://www.taylorandlodge.com
http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Ro-Sm/Smith-Graham.html
https://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/graham-smith
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1988/jul/11/food-and-farming-year-1989
https://www.collectgbstamps.co.uk/explore/issues/?issue=334
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a41789793/bruce-oldfield-profile
https://www.moss.co.uk/inside-pocket/post/meet-the-brand-hardy-amies
https://therake.com/stories/by-royal-appointment-hardy-amies
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp05003/sir-edwin-hardy-amies
https://www.uca.ac.uk/blogs/wendys-fabulous-fashion-life
https://www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com/article?docid=b-9781474260428&tocid=b-9781474260428-FPA056
https://www.mulberry.com/gb/mulberry-world/about-mulberry/mulberry-story
https://savilerow-style.com/news/tommy-nutter-rebel-cause/
https://www.margarethowell.co.uk/about
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/margaret-howell-on-five-decades-of-british-style
