The point of fashion?

Reading American Vogue on the plane home (having watched The September Issue - a documentary starring Vogue Editor Anna Wintour and Creative Director Grace Coddington - on the way over). Why so much fuss about fashion? Anna Wintour's Editor's letter makes an interesting point: "Fashion ultimately empowers one to celebrate one's best self on one's own terms."
Also in the issue - a list of fashion blogs, very keenly read at the moment....They showcase this one by Mary Tomer which follows Michelle Obama's wardrobe and outings. And this by French fashionista  Garance Dore which apparently gets hundreds of thousands of hits....
I like my daughter's friend Molly's - not in Vogue as yet but previously mentioned in this blog as a pioneer up-cycler. Molly is going from strength to strength, as a reading of her blog will reveal.

Arrive back in Shepherds Bush with Therese's bag packed with Lucky Charms cereal, Oreo Cookies, Hershey Kisses, herbal teas and other food requests.

Native American beading at the University of Minnesota

A unexpected and thoughtful present from Therese - a  bag which folds into a case like a portable umbrella holder. Already need it to hold the things that won't fit in my suitcase.... Then we set off for the University of Minnesota.

Therese has had the inspired idea of pursuing the embroidery trail at the Goldstein Museum of Design. A selection of wonderful native American buckskin beaded bags.

Photos courtesy of Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota

Chippewa beadwork.

Originally, Native American beads were carved from natural materials like shells or coral, wood, amber - or stones like turquoise. Copper and silver were used animal bones, horns, and teeth. Glass beads only started to be used after traders brought them from Europe.

Beading on velvet. Small, drawstring bags.

The silver beaded bag above is apparently the oldest piece. But the curator says these are very tricky to date.A swatch of beading for a cushion cover.

And its reverse.

Later we have lunch at a huge Vietnamese restaurant with Therese's mother-in-law, Ann Hage, who is pleased to see the snow thawing so fast. It is drizzling steadily.
(On the menu - fresh spring rolls - which I remember vividly from my last visit nine years ago.) Ann brings along a magazine with an article about an exquisite wedding veil of Brussels lace that has been in her family for generations and has been worn by ten brides. She was a bridesmaid when her sister was married in Fergus Falls, northern Minnesota, wearing the veil. 
A photo from the magazine of one of the ten with her mother, in the 20s.

Snow in Minnesota and the embroidery trail continues

In St Paul, Minnesota, to see my great friend Therese. Thought it was cold on leaving London but it wasn't really. Here the temperature has been minus 30 at times and snow is still banked up on the pavements, though now starting to melt as at long last spring is on the way. Immediately see one of Therese's creations - an outside arrangement that has lasted all winter, even surviving being buried under several feet of snow.

We go for a walk with Fiona the dog who doesn't mind the cold. And come across street art.

Poetry on the pavement.

It seems fresh, a breath of fresh air and a surprise. This kind of thing seems to happen best in America.

Tomorrow, we are going out to look at more embroidery.
Think of when the embroidery trail started, summer 2008 in central Spain with another old friend from the States.

A sparkling new addition for the Stitch Roadshow

We have another swatch to add to the exhibition! Katharine Collett, who is very impressively running informal sewing circles in Battersea, has created a sparkling new piece. Katharine attended the course launching new embroidery packs and motifs in the autumn.
"I found the design in a tattoo source book, of all places - it made me think of a phoenix and a peacock at the same time," she says.
It's great that the body of work is growing in this way.
Katharine is embroidering a new logo for the group which meets at York Gardens Library, Battersea. Now known as 'Needle loves thread'. If you're interested in going along, please email and I can will you in touch.

Unexpected embroidery in a Stanley Spencer chapel

A beautiful Sunday morning and drive with my son to Sandham Memorial Chapel, Wiltshire, to see the Stanley Spencer murals, commissioned in the late 20s and reflecting Spencer's experience in the First World War.

Remember very clearly the last time I went - Election Day in May 1997. But wasn't interested - so much - in embroidery then and didn't notice the embroidered altarpiece.

It is by Madeleine Clifton, an old friend of the Berhrends family which commissioned the chapel and its murals. She was an acclaimed embroiderer in the early 20th century - was a pupil of the painter Walter Sickert and in 1909 opened an etching school with him. Later on, she married Sickert's dealer - A B Clifton - and abandoned painting for embroidery.
This altar hanging is in grey tone, natural linen, a perfect counterpoint to the maelstrom of colour and movement in the mural behind. And as the images in the mural pose questions, so does the text on the embroidery. The lines are left incomplete.
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little....." The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1, line 148
"I am the resurrection and the life and he that...." John 11, v 25.

Haberdashery on Goldhawk Road

 Of great interest to west London embroiderers - A1 Fabrics at the entrance to Shepherds Bush market (stockists of every fabric imaginable) have opened a haberdashery department upstairs. Hannah Walker discovered it this week. Hopefully a good source of raw materials for our sewing packs....

Old friends at a House of Commons reception

En route through the Great Hall in the Houses of Parliament (the only place you are allowed to take pictures) to a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the Asian Women's Resource Centre. I had always thought it was a fantastic organisation but had not quite realised just how extraordinary. Five women were given rewards at the reception (hosted by Brent  MP Sarah Teather) for overcoming truly shocking personal circumstances involving physical and sexual abuse.
It was good to see old friends who had taken part in A Stitch in Time. Also Meherun Ahmed who runs the AWRC. We have a funding application to Faiths in Action to run needlework classes in Harlesden and Harrow with the Royal School of Needlework, hosted by the AWRC. Fingers crossed.

Contacting winners, military goldwork and swathes of white fabric

We have shortlisted five winners for the 2009 British Sari Story competition, and during the weekend four gradually pick up their emails and phone messages to get in touch - to hear the news. Am awaiting an email from the fifth - then we can make an announcement. The overall winner will be announced later this year, once our partner in the project, RCKC , has made up the five shortlisted entries (in India).
A grey morning in London. But seriously grand goldwork on the cuff in the window of a military tailor in Mayfair.

 

En route to the National Gallery pass Dolce and Gabbana. Jeans with a Bollywood sparkle.

At the National Gallery am delighted to find the catalogue of Phantom, an exhibition by Alison Watt two years ago that I really liked. Couldn't afford the catalogue at the time but now it has found its way to the Sale Table.

Have thought a lot about the inspirations to these extraordinary paintings as we've worked on Stitch 

and the British Sari Story. Especially Madame Moitessier's dress (Ingres 1856)

  

And the folds of fabric in Zurburan's monks' habits - in particular this one, Saint Serapion (1628).

Her own, huge canvases, which she was painting at the National Gallery at the time of the exhibition, are stunning.

Judging the British Sari Story competition, ice in the Alps

Later ... judging the British Sari Story 2009 competition with Amit Rastogi of RCKC in Ealing. Exciting to see so many designs, with so much potential. We have asked for a British Sari and a British way of wearing the sari. We think we spot the winner  - but we have lots of good entries and shortlist five. The overall winner will be announced later this year.  RCKC always seems like a magical place, filled with glorious saris, beading and embroidery  - resplendently vivid and colourful in comparison with Ealing Road, Alperton, and the bus station outside...
In the meantime a blog reader, skiing in the Alps, says ice hangs like lace in the trees.

News from Nilesh Mistry and a painted elephant

Nilesh Mistry, who won the British Sari Story competition in its first year in 2007, emails with photos of one of the amazing painted elephants he has created for Elephant Parade, London 2010.

"Elephant Parade is an exciting campaign that will shine a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. The event will see over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London this summer 2010."

Nilesh's elephant, as we would expect, is completely stunning.