Zandra Rhodes’ ‘Works of Art’ (1979–1988): From Feminine Frills to Goddess Saris

Abstract

By 1979 the British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes (b. 1940) was well established and internationally renowned for her colourful hand screen-printed silk chiffon crinoline dresses. The femininity of her chiffon dresses ensured their continuation as best–sellers beyond 1979, but little has been written about her other dress designs during the 1980s. During this period Rhodes introduced new styles including her heavily beaded ‘exotic tunics’ and designer saris worn over hip panniers. Zandra Rhodes’ designs were perceived as feminine when worn by the designer herself, her models and her clientele; and represented as feminine in their portrayal in magazines and newspapers at the time. Using original records held in the Zandra Rhodes Archives, London, as well as material gathered during the Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection project (Jisc, 2011–2013), this article examines the period 1979–1988 within a framework of feminine representation and also considers Rhodes’ proposition that her designs are ‘works of art’.

Keywords:

• Zandra Rhodes
• fashion
• textiles
• 1980s
• femininity
• gender
• British
• twentieth century
• sari

Acknowledgements

I would particularly like to thank Dame Zandra Rhodes for allowing me to conduct research at the Zandra Rhodes Archives in London. I would like to acknowledge the University for the Creative Arts’ Research Fund (2012–2013) which provided a grant for part of this work. Thanks are also due to Frances Diplock, Production Manager, Zandra Rhodes Enterprises, and to Amy Robinson, Programme Manager — Digital Curation, Centre for Digital Scholarship, University for the Creative Arts.

The underlying research materials for this article can be accessed at <http://figshare.com/articles/Zandra_Rhodes_Works_of_Art_1979_87/1036379>. Author's fileset on Figshare.

Notes

¹ The book The Art of Zandra Rhodes remains a seminal text for those studying Zandra Rhodes’ dress, covering the period up to the African Collection of Spring/Summer 1981. Zandra Rhodes and Anne Knight, The Art of Zandra Rhodes (London: Jonathan Cape, 1984).

² The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection makes available samples from all collections during this period, with the exception of the Ode to Woman Collection (Autumn/Winter 1986), which can be viewed towards the end of Style Bible No. 7.

³ Rhodes uses the term ‘exotic tunics’ to highlight that they were garments inspired by another culture. This is in keeping with her interest in costume from around the world as discussed throughout the book The Art of Zandra Rhodes.

⁴ Jennifer Craik, The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion (London: Routledge Books, 1994), p. 43.

⁵ Winifred Holtby, a feminist writing about fashion after the First World War, commented unfavourably on the use of ‘frills and flounces to emphasise the difference between men and women’. Winifred Holtby, Women and a Changing Civilisation (London: John Lane, 1934), p. 119.

⁶ The Art of Zandra Rhodes, p. 80.

⁷ Rebecca Arnold, Fashion, Desire and Anxiety (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001), p. 116.

⁸ Caroline Evans and Minna Thornton, Women & Fashion: A New Look (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1989), p. 13.

⁹ There is a photograph of Zandra Rhodes holding up a textile design, on paper, to her body in The Art of Zandra Rhodes, p. 78. See also Michelle Lewis, ‘7. Pattern Cutting’, in Zandra Rhodes Tutorials <http://www.zandrarhodes.ucreative.ac.uk/p/tutorials.html> [accessed 11 July 2015].

¹⁰ Sonnet Stanfill, ‘London Calling: Designer Fashion in 1980s London’, in From Club to Couture: 80s Fashion, ed. by Sonnet Stanfill (London: V&A Publications, 2013), pp. 50–73 (p. 52).

¹¹ Companies House states that Zandra Rhodes Shops Limited (Company No. 01204289) had the last accounts made up to 31 December 1989. Available from: <https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house> [accessed 8 February 2015]. Please note that this information seems to have now been removed from Companies House.

¹² Some designs have specially designated numbers, such as a one-shouldered dress which first appeared as 74/5C and then appeared in similar forms with the ‘5C’ repeated, such as 78/5C.

¹³ The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection <http://www.zandrarhodes.ucreative.ac.uk> [accessed 21 January 2016].

¹⁴ Some of the research data underpinning this article, including a timeline and a list of couture collections, is also available as a fileset online: <http://figshare.com/articles/Zandra_Rhodes_Works_of_Art_1979_87/1036379> [accessed 21 January 2016].

¹⁵ The Art of Zandra Rhodes, pp. 10–11.

¹⁶ Rebecca Arnold, Fashion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 33.

¹⁷ The Art of Zandra Rhodes, pp. 11–12.

¹⁸ Sylvia Ayton writes about her life in couture, and the business with Zandra Rhodes, in Sylvia Ayton, ‘A Love-Hate Relationship with Couture’, Costume, 39 (2005), 117–27.

¹⁹ Arnold, Fashion: A Very Short Introduction, p. 31.

²⁰ Peter York, quoted in Michael Bracewell, ‘Richard Hamilton, Art, Style, Personae and New Aesthetics’, in Glam: The Performance of Style, ed. by Darren Pih (London: Tate Publishing, 2013), pp. 108–21 (p. 121).

²¹ Fashion and Textile Museum, ‘POP! DESIGN • CULTURE • FASHION’ Press Release, Fashion and Textile Museum, 4 April 2012 <http://ftmlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/POP_Press_Release_April12.pdf> [accessed 21 January 2016].

²² Caroline Phillips, ‘Masked Woman’, The Standard, London, 27 January 1989 [no pagination on press cutting], Zandra Rhodes Archives, London (ZRA).

²³ Postcards of Rhodes’ Grafton Street shop, ZRA.

²⁴ The Art of Zandra Rhodes, p. 191.

²⁵ Alice Rawsthorn (Director of the Design Museum, London) and Zandra Rhodes, ‘Is Fashion a True Art Form?’, The Guardian, 13 July 2003 <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/jul/13/art.artsfeatures1> [accessed 21 January 2016].

²⁶ Christina Walkley, ‘Zandra Rhodes’, Costume, 10 (1976), 99–100.

²⁷ The concept of Zandra’s couture dresses as ‘works of art’ was promoted in an article about the book The Art of Zandra Rhodes: Georgina Howell, ‘All Roads Lead to Zandra’, The Sunday Times Magazine, 18 November 1984, cover and pp. 58–61 (p. 59).

²⁸ Anne Knight was the Merchandise Director of Fortnum and Mason, London, who had selected Rhodes’ first solo collection for display in the store in October 1969.

²⁹ Bettijane Levine, ‘Rhodes Widens Avenues’, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 1981, p. 2.

³⁰ Gity Monsef, Dennis Nothdruft and Robert de Niet, Zandra Rhodes: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles (Suffolk: Antique Collectors Club; and Surrey: Zandra Rhodes Publications, 2005), p. 150.

³¹ Walkley, ‘Zandra Rhodes’, p. 100.

³² Monsef et al., A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles, pp. 90–91.

³³ Design Museum, Fifty Dresses that Changed the World (London: Conran Octopus Ltd, 2009), pp. 62–63.

³⁴ Evans and Thornton, Women & Fashion, p. 152.

³⁵ Marnie Fogg, Vintage Weddings: One Hundred Years of Bridal Fashion and Style (London: Carlton Books, 2010), p. 174.

³⁶ Marylou Luther, ‘Future Queen Puts Starch into British Fashion’, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 26 October 1981 <http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=U50cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GGgEAAAAIBAJ&dq=zandra%20rhodes&pg=4560%2C5729691> [accessed 21 January 2016].

³⁷ Lady Rothermere photographed in Woman, London, 10 October 1981 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA. Photographs by Norman Parkinson on the cover and the inside story in Town & Country, US, April 1982 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

³⁸ Advertisements among unmarked press cuttings, ZRA. The photograph used for the Fabergé A Touch of Class perfume advertisement is also shown in The Art of Zandra Rhodes, p. 200.

³⁹ Craik, The Face of Fashion, p. 46.

⁴⁰ The Art of Zandra Rhodes, p. 234.

⁴¹ In the 1960s the shalwar kameez, ‘formerly a flappy, loose, regional outfit, became smart daywear’; influenced by Western fashion the tunic and trousers became more fitted, the shalwar trousers eventually metamorphosed into the tight churidhar trousers. See Laila Tyabji, ‘Fashion in Post-Independence India’, The Berg Fashion Library, September 2010 <http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/BEWDF/EDch4034> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁴² Monsef et al., A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles, p. 134.

⁴³ Zandra Rhodes, Modern Renaissance Look, in Style Bible No. 5, p. 170, ZRA.

⁴⁴ ‘Diana Ross: Solid Gold!’, Vogue, 171:12, New York (December 1981), 240–43 (p. 240).

⁴⁵ Radio Times, 27 September–3 October 1986, cover image.

⁴⁶ Personal conversation with Frances Diplock, 2012.

⁴⁷ Peter York and Charles Jennings, Peter York’s Eighties (London: BBC Books, 1995), p. 47.

⁴⁸ The Mail on Sunday YOU Magazine, London, 27 March 1983 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁴⁹ Patricia A. Cunningham, Heather Mangine and Andrew Reilly, ‘Television and Fashion in the 1980s’, The Berg Fashion Library, 2005 <http://www.bergfashionlibrary.com/view/TCAF/chapter-TCAF0015.xml> [accessed 11 July 2015].

⁵⁰ Vicky Carnegy, Fashions of a Decade: The 1980s (London: B.T. Batsford, 1990), pp. 32–33.

⁵¹ Felicity Buirski, ‘Zandra Rhodes’, Mode Avantgarde, 7 (1979) [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁵² ‘Zandra Rhodes — Giddy Dresses’, Women’s Wear Daily, 12 October 1982 [no journalist name or pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁵³ Ernestine Carter, ‘Fantasy in Fashion’, Costume, 8 (1974), 20–21.

⁵⁴ Cheryl Buckley and Hilary Fawcett, Fashioning the Feminine: Representation and Women’s Fashion from the Fin de Siecle to the Present (London: I.B. Tauris, 2002), p. 125.

⁵⁵ BBC, World of Difference: The Models, 12 January 1978 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p026gmw9/world-of-difference-the-models> [accessed 21 January 2016]. This programme looks at the differences between modelling in the 1940s and 50s compared to the 1970s. The model Sarah Grant is interviewed wearing the Zandra Rhodes silk chiffon ensemble in the Mexican Turnaround print (77/1) as shown here: <http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=200268> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁵⁶ Christopher Breward, The Culture of Fashion (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), pp. 232–33.

⁵⁷ For a list of other clubs in London, see Iain R. Webb, ‘Revolt into Style (Revisited)’, V&A Magazine, 31 (Summer 2013), 32–44 (p. 43).

⁵⁸ Photograph by Robyn Beeche captioned 1982 in Art & Design, London, February 1985, cover and pp. 20–23 (p. 21).

⁵⁹ Evans and Thornton, Women & Fashion, p. 60.

⁶⁰ Evans and Thornton, Women & Fashion, p. 42.

⁶¹ Philip Auslander, Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), p. 146.

⁶² Neil Mulholland, ‘Bang the Whole Gang’, in Pih, Glam: The Performance of Style, pp. 82–93 (p. 92).

⁶³ Andrew Logan, ‘Andrew Logan’s The Alternative Miss World’, Alternative Miss World < http://alternativemissworld.co.uk/history/> [accessed 11 July 2015].

⁶⁴ Princess Julia, ‘The British Guide to Showing Off: What Is the Real Story of Artist Andrew Logan?’, i-D Online, 11 November 2011 (archived Web content) <http://i-donline.com/2011/11/the-british-guide-to-showing-off/> [accessed 19 September 2013]. This is now only available through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: <http://web.archive.org/web/20130901090103/http://i-donline.com/2011/11/the-british-guide-to-showing-off/> [accessed 21 January 2016]. Logan’s sculptures include a portrait bust of Rhodes in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, and many pieces of jewellery worn by Rhodes and the models in her fashion shows.

⁶⁵ Ask Zandra, ‘16. The Mediaeval Collection’, in the Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection, February 2013 <http://www.zandrarhodes.ucreative.ac.uk/2013/02/the-inspiration-behind-mediaeval.html> [accessed 21 January 2016]. For a description of the fashion show, see also Ann Carpenter, ‘Zandra Rhodes: Designer of the Month’, Hair & Beauty, May 1983, pp. 7–10. Derek Jarman was also a participant in the Alternative Miss World pageant.

⁶⁶ The sense of feeling and movement for performance is expressed in these two short video clips: British Pathé, Fashion Show by Zandra Rhodes, 1970 <http://www.britishpathe.com/video/fashion-show-by-zandra-rhodes> [accessed 21 January 2016]; and when Zandra Rhodes designs for Luke Spiller, lead vocalist of The Struts, BBC Four, Idols (episode 2 of 3), in Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion, 27 September 2014 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0278wnj> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁶⁷ For example, a Zandra Rhodes jersey top worn by Marc Bolan is Lot 219 in Christie’s Sale 9467, Pop Culture, 26 June 2013, London, South Kensington <http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/memorabilia/marc-bolan-5697450-details.aspx> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁶⁸ Zandra Rhodes, ‘15 Favourite Fashion Memories’, 15 years of Vogue.com <http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/15th-anniversary/zandra-rhodes/freddie-mercury> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁶⁹ The bold and striking designs from the Chinese collections are not discussed in this article as they have been described in depth in The Art of Zandra Rhodes, pp. 201–25.

⁷⁰ In addition to Zandra Rhodes, the other three designers chosen were John Bates (b. 1938), Janice Wainwright (b. 1940) and Yuki (b. 1937). See Peter Hill, ‘The Greatest Store on Earth’, London Fashion Exhibition Magazine, October 1979, pp. 84–85.

⁷¹ Zandra Rhodes was stocked at Henri Bendel, New York early in the 1970s; this was followed in 1976 with pieces at Marshall Field, Chicago, Illinois; and Bloomingdale’s, New York. Her dresses were also promoted and carried by Sakowitz, Houston, Texas; by Saks Fifth Avenue, New York City; and through Martha Phillips’ (1898–1996) stores in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida. Enid Nemy, ‘Martha Phillips, 98, a Force in Luxury Fashion Retailing’, The New York Times, 10 September 1996 <http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/nyregion/martha-phillips-98-a-force-in-luxury-fashion-retailing.html> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁷² Georgina Howell, ‘The Zandra Rhodes Dossier’, Vogue, 135:9, London (July 1978), 94–95 (p. 94).

⁷³ Alison James, Europe is Everybody’s New Dream Market Right? [unmarked press cutting], 1990, pp. 53–55 (p. 55), ZRA.

⁷⁴ Liz Porter, ‘Victoria — and That Dress — Made a Stitch in Time’, Woman, London, 17 August 1985, pp. 2–3.

⁷⁵ Zandra Rhodes, The Exotic Beaded Tunic Look, in Style Bible No. 7, p. 330, ZRA.

⁷⁶ Personal conversation with Frances Diplock, 2012.

⁷⁷ Anne Price, ‘A Dream of Fashion’, Country Life, 25 September 1980, pp. 1107–1110 (p. 1107). This dress is probably Style Number 80/92.

⁷⁸ Pieter Daane, ‘Zandra Rhodes’, The Bassey Blog, 29 July 2009 <http://shirleybassey.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/zandra-rhodes/> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁷⁹ Geraldine Norman, ‘Art and Stars against Aids’, The Times, London, 1 June 1987. The dress mentioned is probably design 86/93 from the Spanish Impressions Collection: <http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=200598> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁸⁰ The Zandra Rhodes 1987 poster promotes the fashion show Zandra Rhodes II held at the historic Grosvenor House hotel, London during the week of 15 December 1986.

⁸¹ Quality Line Think British Campaign, Vol. 2:1, January–March 1987, p. 1.

⁸² Mukta Gupta, Women and Educational Development (New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2004), p. 33.

⁸³ Bettijane Levine, ‘Blue Models for a Pink Lady’, The Times, London, 14 May 1982.

⁸⁴ The Aditi exhibition originated from a show in 1978 at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. ‘Aditi: A Resounding Success’, India Today, 30 September 1982, p. 142 <http://www.rajeevsethi.com/press/pdf/3-aditi.pdf> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁸⁵ Entry for ‘Diva’, Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford University Press) <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/diva> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁸⁶ Zandra Rhodes, Biography, available from: <http://www.zandrarhodes.com/about> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁸⁷ A Staff Reporter, ‘Zandra Rhodes’ Saree Show Opens’, The Indian Post, Mumbai, 15 December 1987 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁸⁸ Sanyogeitaa Chadha, ‘Saree a Fashion Statement’, Business of Fashion, 24 November 2014 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁸⁹ Sanatan Sanstha, What Is the Importance of ‘Offering a Sari’ to the Goddess? (2015) <http://www.sanatan.org/en/a/95.html> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁹⁰ Chadha, ‘Saree a Fashion Statement’.

⁹¹ ‘Zandra Rhodes’ Saree Show Opens’, The Indian Post.

⁹² ‘Zandra Rhodes Shows Sari Fashions’, Kentucky New Era, 15 December 1987 <http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yCRXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZUMNAAAAIBAJ&dq=zandra%20rhodes&pg=3760%2C5310994> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁹³ ‘Giving Zandra Touch to Saree’, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 6 June 1987 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁹⁴ ‘My Beautiful Saree’, The Independent, London, 8 July 1988 [no pagination given on press cutting], ZRA.

⁹⁵ Zandra Rhodes, ‘The Look for 1988’, City Scan, January 1988, p. 43.

⁹⁶ Zandra Rhodes, ‘Solo Exhibitions’, Zandra Rhodes <http://www.zandrarhodes.com/solo-exhibitions> [accessed 21 January 2016].

⁹⁷ ‘My Beautiful Saree’, The Independent.

⁹⁸ Walkley, ‘Zandra Rhodes’, p. 100.

⁹⁹ The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection <http://www.zandrarhodes.ucreative.ac.uk> [accessed 21 January 2016].