Zandra Rhodes
born 1940
Zandra Rhodes studied textile design at the Royal College of Art, but as a fashion designer, she is largely self-taught. Once described as “London’s queen of fantasy,” Rhodes cares most about the interaction between the textile and the garment. When creating, textile design is always her first step. Then she allows the textile’s properties and patterns to guide her in the creation of clothing. She is perhaps best known for her styles made using airy chiffon prints, which she charmingly refers to as “butterflies,” as well as the ever-present squiggly lines—“wiggles”—that populate her textile designs.
During the second half of the 1960s, the British design company Foale and Tuffin purchased Rhodes’s textiles. In 1969, she debuted her own collection. In The Art of Zandra Rhodes, she wrote that she “began to realize that I and my prints had too strong a personality to fit into someone else’s designs.” With her first collection, Rhodes sought to translate knitting techniques into two-dimensional printed designs.
Rhodes’s work is influenced by the things she sees and the places she visits; her sources are as varied as Native American culture, the historic clothing of the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Punk. Her 1977 interpretation of Punk style resulted in one of her most important collections. “Why can’t our eyes be developed to see a tear strategically placed as being just as beautiful as an embroidered flower, a safety pin just as valid as a bead?” she asked.
In 2003, she founded the Fashion & Textile Museum in London, an institution that focuses on British design. “I want it to be a place where fashion doesn’t feel so precious or rarefied,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. It is a sentiment that suits Rhodes, whose fashions are playful, whimsical, and fun—as is the designer herself. Her personal style is bold, and her bright pink hair has become something of a signature.
During the second half of the 1960s, the British design company Foale and Tuffin purchased Rhodes’s textiles. In 1969, she debuted her own collection. In The Art of Zandra Rhodes, she wrote that she “began to realize that I and my prints had too strong a personality to fit into someone else’s designs.” With her first collection, Rhodes sought to translate knitting techniques into two-dimensional printed designs.
Rhodes’s work is influenced by the things she sees and the places she visits; her sources are as varied as Native American culture, the historic clothing of the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Punk. Her 1977 interpretation of Punk style resulted in one of her most important collections. “Why can’t our eyes be developed to see a tear strategically placed as being just as beautiful as an embroidered flower, a safety pin just as valid as a bead?” she asked.
In 2003, she founded the Fashion & Textile Museum in London, an institution that focuses on British design. “I want it to be a place where fashion doesn’t feel so precious or rarefied,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. It is a sentiment that suits Rhodes, whose fashions are playful, whimsical, and fun—as is the designer herself. Her personal style is bold, and her bright pink hair has become something of a signature.