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Lisa, you have been running your own fashion label for ten years now. How has that been for you? 

I set up Lisa Redman after being the right hand to Elspeth Gibson for nearly six years. Following her decision to pursue other design opportunities, it felt like a natural progression. So six months later I started to gradually take commissions for special pieces…

I was lucky enough to have an initial injection of cash, which was integral to the set up. This enabled me to buy the equipment to produce in-house and create a small collection of pieces that were the basis for people to order from – a starting point, from which to create their own bespoke piece.

At this time I based the business in north west London in a close friend’s home, who also worked in the industry. This was really important to be around like minded people that understood the challenges. That was ten years ago and the essence of the business is still the same – creating very special pieces for some very inspirational ladies of the UK and beyond.

What achievements have delighted you the most?

I really do love working with the ladies on a one-to-one basis and creating a special piece for a special occasion. It truly delights me when they are delighted. I know how important it is to feel fantastic as well as relaxed on an important day, and I don’t under estimate how clothes really do have the power to give you that confidence.

I get real pleasure from the whole design process and its very satisfying to see a piece morph into real life – from a loose conversation and vision, to a final sketch,  and finally an actual dream dress that then literally goes to the ball. Seeing the photos after the event is always very exciting for the entire team, as so much love and energy goes into these pieces, from our highly skilled seamstress, pattern cutter, hand beader etc.

What have been the major challenges?

One of the biggest challenges is the actual running of the business. Coming from a creative view point this sometimes doesn’t sit quite so well with the commercial world. I have had to learn as I go. I think it helped that I have grown up being surrounded by direct family and friends all of whom have run their own businesses this gives you the confidence to go for it.

I have also learnt that saying ‘cash is king’ is very true. Cashflow can be interesting at times, and this can really affect the business if not managed in advance. Lastly being the name of the business and the primary contact in all capacities is a challenge. Being the creative designer, the production manager, the accounts department… it’s hard to change hats, and be all things equally successfully.

You create brilliant clothes for fashion-conscious women from around the world. Can you tell us a bit about how you work with them? What is your approach?

I work with inspirational women and I really appreciate that – it’s a real honour. I work very closely with the loyal regular client base that I have, creating their unique bespoke pieces. I tend to work differently with different clients depending on what suits them. Some like me to visit them in their own home, some come to my studio, some I visit the hotel they may be staying in… it’s really their choice.

We talk about what they are currently coveting, or a gap in their wardrobe, or perhaps they have something special to go to. They may have their own ideas and inspiration as a starting point. My in-house collection is a constant source of inspiration, and the essence of our house signature is evident in every piece we create. We look at a variety of high-end fabrics as we offer a huge collection from the best mills in England, France and Italy. All the hand embellishment is done in-house so this really can be designed to their brief too. The initial consultation is very relaxed. If we are at the atelier, we sit on the sofa and browse all the above over a cup of tea.

The service side of what I do is very important to me, and I want clients to feel comfortable, and relaxed. After all it is a fairly intimate relationship when you are creating their clothes. And of course ultimately you want to do the best job for your client so listening, trying to understand their brief and expectations and turning them into a reality. We create a toile which is a mock up shape of the garment to get the perfect silhouette, and then go into the real cloth once this approved. We then do a couple of fittings in the real cloth, before delivering.

How do you see men’s and women’s fashion changing over the next few years?

I think there will be a turn against all the immediacy that is abundant at the moment. I already look after a group of women that invest in high end pieces that are really good, true value. They will keep these items for a lifetime, even pass them on.

I think that creating something unique has a value, as do the skills involved in creating something using traditional methods. Fast, throwaway fashion is just not sustainable and I think we will see an increase in having something specifically made for the client that is special, unique – and a true value.

If a young designer came to you and said they wanted to follow in your footsteps, what would be your advice?

I would suggest they get some good experience in the industry first. It’s really important to get an idea of the realities of working in this world. A lot of young designers don’t have a true idea of how much time is spent designing verses running the actual business which is so different from the creative world. Maybe working within a small company that already does what you aspire to is beneficial.

In a small company you can get an overview of all the areas. I would then advise that they speak with industry mentors. There are lots out there and they have been so helpful to me.

If you had to sum up your approach in three words, what would they be?

Creative, unique, instinctive.

http://www.lisaredman.co.uk/

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Lisa, you have been running your own

News, Tailor News

Simon Cundey led the praises for Golden Shears 2017, saying it was, as usual, one of the highlights of the tailoring year. “This year was quite a melange of styling, very elegant styling and the quality was exceptional,” said Cundey, chairman of the Golden Shears and managing director at Henry Poole & Co.

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Simon Cundey led the praises for Golden Shears 2017, saying it was, as usual, one of the highlights of the tailoring year. “This year was quite a melange of styling, very elegant styling and the quality was exceptional,” said Cundey, chairman of the Golden Shears and managing director at Henry Poole & Co.

Accessories

Photographer Miro Arva went to No 6, Sackville Street, the longstanding traditional tailors’ building, to capture the new jacket produced by designer Lena McCroary. The jacket features embroidered pearl crocodiles, diamante fringing, gold work snakes and bees and an embellished peacock. Lena said: “All the embroideries were inspired by exceptional bejewelled treasures owned by opulent Mughal rulers. The idea for the peacock, for example, was taken from a brooch and hair ornament bought by Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala when, on his way to Spain in around 1905, he fell head over heels for 16-year-old dancer Anita Delgado.

“The reaction to this collection has been extremely positive, I think the jackets capture people’s imaginations, and highlight the dreamlike fantasy and excessive luxury of how the kings of this period lived. Using classic tailoring materials such as Prince of Wales checks and tweeds, gives a very interesting juxtaposition when combined with the embroideries. Almost like two worlds coming together, east meets west.”

www.sannelondon.com

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Photographer Miro Arva went to No 6,

Art & Antiques

By Daniel Evans

David Hockney is 80 in July but he has never been so popular – or worked so hard. The biggest exhibition of his work is now open at the Tate Britain and looks at his evolution from a student to become arguably Britain’s greatest living artist. Hockney, clearly moved by the public’s continued interest in his work, said after he helped choose the 250 pieces of artwork that will be on display: “Many of them seem like old friends to me now.”

This exhibition offers an unprecedented overview of the artist’s work to date. Presented as a chronological overview, it traces his development from the moment of his appearance on the public stage as a student in 1961, through to his iconic works of the 1960s and 1970s, and on to his recent success at the Royal Academy and beyond.

Looking around the exhibition before it opened, Hockney, who still paints every day and recently said he was in his most prolific period, said modestly:  “I made some quite good pictures, didn’t I?”

The show, which includes more than 100 works made over more than half a century, is the first major look at his career in almost 30 years. It includes sketches from his time at art school to works drawn on his iPad at home in California last year. In a recent newspaper interview he said: “When I’m painting I feel 30 but when I stop I feel older. I’m a bit slower than I was but I stand up to paint every day.”

He went on: “It has been a pleasure to revisit works I made decades ago, including some of my earliest paintings. Many of them seem like old friends to me now. We’re looking back over a lifetime with this exhibition, and I hope, like me, people will enjoy seeing how the roots of the new and recent work can be seen in developments over the years.”

The invention of Hockney’s classic works is explored, including his portraits of family, friends and himself, as well as his iconic images of LA swimming pools. It also includes his celebrated Yorkshire landscapes of the 2000s and work made since his return to California in 2013.

The exhibition, the fastest-selling in Tate history – 20,000 tickets were snapped up in advance – will also show how the artist has frequently changed his styles and way of working, embracing new technologies as he goes. For the first time this exhibition shows how the roots of each new direction lay in the work that came before. For example, his radical ‘joiner’ assemblages of photographs, such as the Pearlblossom Highway 1986, informed the paintings of his Hollywood home and the Californian landscapes that he made then and after.

Exhibition curator Chris Stephens had one question for Hockney when the pair of them began to put the exhibition together. “What do you want people to feel when they leave?” I asked him. To which he replied: ‘Joy. I’d like them to leave looking more closely at the world because there is a lot of pleasure to be had from looking more closely.’

“David is a hugely popular artist and rightly we should be putting on shows that people want to see. But at the same time it doesn’t mean there is not something very serious about what he does. The fact they are visually pleasurable doesn’t mean they are shallow.”

Alex Farquharson, director of the Tate Britain, said: “David Hockney is without doubt one of Britain’s greatest living artists. His practice is both consistent, in its pursuit of core concerns, while also wonderfully diverse. Hockney’s impact on post-war art, and culture more generally, is inestimable, and this is a fantastic opportunity to see the full trajectory of his career to date.”

Following the showing in London, the exhibition will travel to the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The David Hockney exhibition will be at Tate Britain in London until May 29. Adults £17.50. Under 12s free – up to four per family adult. Family tickets available.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/david-hockney

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By Daniel Evans David Hockney is 80 in

News, Professions, Tailor News

David Ward, an experienced Savile Row tailor, has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Henry Poole and Huntsman. Here, he argues that Savile Row has a unique place in history which deserves to be protected.

Savile Row tailors are a nondescript bunch. Since their skills became the benchmark for British excellence they have generally been out-of-sight and voiceless. Down the ages, a general depiction of a tailor in any editorial was of an elderly bespectacled gentleman sitting cross legged, working with a piece of cloth.

As a senior cutter on Savile Row for over 20 years, my privileged access to this community has offered me an opportunity to redefine an outdated perception of these clothing savants, as the reality of what one looks like couldn’t be more different. From an array of backgrounds and cultures, all of them posses a passion to dutifully apply the skills that have been sharpened for over 200 years and credited as the best on the planet.

During my years spent working on Savile Row I have witnessed a supply of tailoring apprentices come and go and only a select few have been good enough to execute the required high standards that are sought. This wonderful art is now awash with youthful bespoke tailors, incredibly passionate, and still upholding the traditions put down before them.

However, Savile Row is currently in a state of flux as it is borders shrink and its fame plundered by anyone with the faintest interest in presenting themselves as a Savile Row tailor. My close relationship with these individuals and my interest in portrait photography has provided a platform to present these individuals for who they are and allow them to communicate their feelings and attitudes to the current climate that Savile Row currently finds itself.

Throughout history the word “tailor” has been used to describe an individual who simply makes clothing. There is a presumption that the person had engaged in extensive training, encompassing many hours of instruction and a set way of working with a piece of cloth that would eventually produce a finished garment.

After many years of repetitive instruction and dedication to steam, shrink, stretch, and manipulate a flat piece of cloth in a variety of weights and colours, a yardage of worsted is, metaphorically speaking, transformed from caterpillar to a butterfly, opulent and beautiful in its form.

The epicentre for this practice is still Savile Row. Having spent the last two decades as a cutter on Savile Row and embedded within the company of these incredible artisans, I can truly say that the word “brilliance” is far too reductive a word to quantify their ability. To be addressed, as a Savile Row Tailor is the preserve of a very special few and without doubt, these individuals are the very best in the world at their craft.

Hands that have crafted iconic pieces for everyone from Princess Diana to James Bond are still making the suits for current royalty, Hollywood glitterati and the rock stars of the day. Enquire with any one of them about the chronological duration to acquire their world renowned stamp of distinction and a response generally sounds like the following: “After all the years of doing this job I’m still learning something new every day.”

The tailor’s environment was historically found out of sight, among the higher floors of the houses, using natural daylight to illuminate their work. However, over the past decade they have been moved too less salubrious workbenches in the depths of assorted basements that litter Savile Row. The reason for this? Savile Row’s address has become incredibly desirable not only with ready to wear clothiers but also with hedge fund managers and art dealers who have deeper pockets to accommodate the latest rent rises from landlords.

This is where the industry has been literally cut down to size. But, more alarmingly, there has also been an increase in the amount of individuals who are revered as and sell themselves as “Savile Row” tailors with no qualifications or experience to honour such an exclusive earned title. It would seem that the occupational mantle of “Savile Row” tailor has become an easily tacked on moniker to anyone arriving in Mayfair intending to exploit the craft of this extraordinary location.

Savile Row finds itself in an era where plagiarists blatantly desecrate its unquestionable prestige and pay very little credit to its heritage and desperately toil to cultivate their spurious credentials through good PR. In spite of the ownership of a packet of nails I do not claim to posses the knowledge and experience of a certified builder yet there is an abundance of individuals who will use the title “Savile Row” tailor on the purchase of a packet of pins with neither proficiency to use the title legitimately and lack humility. With no questions asked and qualifications unchecked, another tailoring star is born and signed off by the media to prey on the Row’s success while the Row itself struggles to maintain its own identity in its natural environment.

It is heartbreaking, yet sadly expected in this age where immediacy is king, that we can observe one of the last true citadels of British craftsmanship being distorted and pillaged in this way. It would appear there are more fake bespoke tailors in London than real ones.

As the craft continues to be exploited for its mastery and distinction and the word “bespoke” that was born out of the tailoring industry is corrupted by the masses, selling everything from bespoke holidays to bespoke wallpaper, what of the Row’s future? Will the term “Savile Row” tailor become a reference to a bygone era, as tourist guides chaperone visitors to London streets to view what is left of this once incredible location that was swallowed up and devoured by the blandness of contemporary culture?

At a grassroots level there is a bountiful reserve of the right people coming into the trade to carry on the tradition of making clothing by hand, so that’s a good starting point. But if Savile Row as an industry can defend the erosion of its territory, method and vocabulary in a legal capacity in the same way the word champagne is ring-fenced to cease the theft of its name and produce, it might have the potential to see out another 200 years of excellence as a community of tailors, rather than a pursuit that is practised by the few who are left. One can only hope that, come tomorrow, Savile Row is left with a carcass full of flesh rather than a corpse that has been picked over and left for dead.

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David Ward, an experienced Savile Row tailor,