Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Towards a suit...

Thanks For Everything!

Just spent the weekend in Brighton, a much needed break after the week of marking last week, marking the final submissions of our degree students. The above cake was a present from the lovely Rachel O'Neill to thank us for helping her over the years.

Now I'm waiting for the external examiner to turn up and validate the marks so here is a short post while I wait and if you are interested, you can see what the students have been up to here. (I will be reviewing the show fully this week after it opens on Friday.)



Brighton was relaxing as always but I had to go up to London on Friday for sartorial reasons, largely to collect a jacket from Susannah Hall - pictures of that to follow - and to have the first fitting for my new summer suit from The Earl of Bedlam. It has to be said that I normally find the "forward baste" very exciting when I'm getting clothes made... it is at this point that you realise how your ideas for the piece will or won't work and it is also the point when the half-formed suit starts to take the perfect fit to your own body. In this case, I was excited - as usual - but when I finally saw the coat on the form, I was beside myself and actually lost for words...

"The Brighton Beau" - Forward Baste

And now anyone who has been following this will be able to see what the "Tectonic" aspect of the suit is: the panels are cut in a variety of directions to the stripes, which is not only wonderfully subtle, but it is also a little shocking.



Detail of the panelling of the jacket.



Me with Mark - trying to hypnotise me, I think - and Flora, the assistant at EoB.


The waistcoat. Yup! A pink lining! (The Liberty print shirt is from Susannah Hall, link above.)


With the fantastic Caroline, emphatically NOT looking like a "farmer's wife"!

Can't wait to see this finished now.



Two of my ex-students, Eilidh and Ishbel, have set up in business as "Makers Workshop", offering jewellery bench hire, tuition and a gallery space, a much-needed service in Glasgow. I'll be visiting soon and will get some photographs.

Next... degree shows!