My teeny weeny love affair with the Fashion and Textile Museum has meant that I have see their ‘Designing Women’ exhibition a fair few times while it has been on… a most darling display of the most iconic post war British textile designers work, Lucienne Day, Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler. I scooted past the sheets of rare fabric on my way to and from the talks I’ve been attending there and was bedazzled by their gorgeousness. The work of these women changed the face of design after the war, they were real pioneers in modernism. Today so many brands and designers either nod to or plainly try and mimic these works…but there sure aint anything nearly as wonderful as the originals.
Because of my work, I quite often get my sticky mitts on vintage fabrics as well as fashion, although fabrics are not my main area of knowledge…but I do of course know what I like! So, I had a large amount of fabric and I thought to myself ‘My goody-goodness that really is extra lovely’ and I kinda had a feeling it was a known design. My very lovely friend Vicky who owns www.somethingfine.co.uk is a vintage fabric supremo and so I asked her who she thought it may be by….she suggested Mahler, so I looked into it. Ooh low and behold, it seems that it is indeed a nice big ol’ load of original Mahler fabric that I have…I say YAY!
My fabric is from the Linear design, it was featured in two colourways in this exhibition but the lime green and purple colour that I have seems to be a bit less common….I do adore the colours of mine, I was planning to make blinds for my window from it…but, eeek, Vicky suggests that would be a similar sin to cutting up an Ossie Clark dress so I am all in a bother…do I keep it safe and not use it or do I make it into something useable that I can look at everyday….ugh…
I knew very little about Mahler before finding out this fabric was one of hers, but now I am discovering her work I bloomin adore it, it’s cool that is is slightly less overused than Lucienne Day’s work, I am particularly in love with this Untitled (Vases) work;
…and this Bird Chair print from 1952….swooon….
And obviously I do love Day’s stuff too, I think this work, Fall, is the most lovely….the colours do make my eyes very happy.
Something else that makes my heart happy is cats….and whilst I was last in London I saw this cat art in Brick Lane…
…and then I got home to my cats…of which this is one.
…maybe I should make my cats some Mahler moggy beds….they do deserve them and I do love them so…….
Take a nice long look at www.somethingfine.co.uk, and visit www.ftmlondon.org for all the goings-on at the Fashion and Textile Museum.
I love this exhibition too, I went there last month and took my students to see it as its so rare to have such an amazing collection in one place. I could have stayed there all day! Hope you make something wonderful with your fabric, if you want me to make you a frock in it, let me know
ooh a frock…now there’s a thought!! Yep, the exhibition was dreamy eh….I adore that place!