Page 60 - The Bite Magazine - Spring Summer 2013

FOUNDED BY ICONIC FASHION DESIGNER
ZANDRA RHODES, THE FASHION AND
TEXTILE MUSEUM IS AN EXTENSION OF
THE CONTEMPORARY FASHION, TEXTILE
AND JEWELLERY INDUSTRY FOR TODAY’S
MODERN CREATIVE. JADA BROOKES
DISCOVERSWHAT’S GOING ON AT FTM.
The Fashion &Textile Mu
Her eccentric brightly
coloured pink hair, theatrical
make-up and art jewellery
has been her signature look
for many years. Zandra Rhodes CBE,
iconic fashion designer and pioneer
is renowned for her unconventional
designs and for bringing the punk era
into mainstream fashion.When she first
started out, her early textile fashion
designs were considered too outrageous
by traditional British manufacturers, and
so she decided to make dresses from
her own fabrics and pioneered the very
special use of printed textiles as an intrinsic
part of the garments she created. As one
of the new wave of British designers in the
1970s, she helped secure London’s position
at the forefront of the international fashion
scene. Today her designs are considered
clear, creative statements, dramatic but
graceful, bold but feminine.
Following her desire to give the
next generation of fashion creatives an
opportunity to learn from the crème de la
crème and showcase their talents one day,
Zandra Rhodes founded The Fashion and
Textile Museum in 2003. The museum is a
cutting edge centre for contemporary
fashion, textiles and
jewellery that showcase a
programme of changing
exhibitions exploring
elements of these three
viable industries. It also has
an academy which runs courses for
creative students and businesses. Located
in the heart of fashionable Bermondsey
Village, the building designed by Mexican
architect Ricardo Legorreta, aims to
display and collect items relating to fashion,
jewellery and textile design as well as