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A Tale of Tweed – Urban Outfitters Showcase, Glasgow

Thursday went
really well, great turn out, tasty cakes and some wine to help it all go down!

The exhibition
includes my collection of Harris Tweed wears, fashion illustrations and items
from around my studio which gives an insight into my design process. I shot some new pieces with photographer Anna Olszewska   last week..check out the results in store!

Wall hangings from
Tiger Textiles adorn the back wall showcasing Alison Macleod’s
talents in free hand embroidery and print skills which you often see in our
collaborative work. Alison and I have worked together over the past few years;
we met at Nesta in 2008 and have since formed a great friendship and business
rapport.

You can read more about our collaborative
work below…

 Pop
down and have a look the exhibition runs for 8 weeks.

Christines Clarks Artwork!
Urban Outfitters


A little bit about or collaborative work…..

Alison Macleod sends me tweed panels embroidered with the Gaelic language
telling stories
which are inspired by her native
Hebridean heritage, Gaelic culture and natural surroundings. Using this
inspiration, Alison embroiders lengths of Harris Tweed with designs that
compliment the traditional cloth. Through delicately stitching Gaelic songs and
poems in the tweed, she is telling the story of where the cloth is from and
promoting the culture in a modern way. She sends me her embroidered fabrics to
Edinburgh to incorporate into my designs. We named our first collaboration
‘The Gaelic Frock Coat’

From the Herald when The Gaelic Frock Coat was first created!

The
Gaelic Frock Coat made it s debut at the Scottish Style Awards and has since
traveled internationally gracing the catwalks of Japan for the ‘Tweed goes to
Tokyo’ exhibition, New York at ‘Dressed to Kilt’ and also at ‘Sachs on Fifth
Avenue’.  The jacket also represented the winners of textile manufacturer
of the year, Harris Tweed Hebrides, at the Scottish Fashion Awards at Stirling
Castle.

I have
made a number of frockcoats that feature Alison’s embroidery; they give the
jackets more meaning, a different edge, people like to hear the journey about where the
garments come from. 

Tiger Textiles – commission for loom shed

Tiger Textiles – we used this embroidered print on our Pheasant Feather bustle jacket.

The Gaelic Frock Coat – Images Jannica Honey.

 

The back panel of the frock coat
tells a story about a woman at a ceilidh dancing in a petticoat with high
heeled red shoes on. Alison has embroidered a poem in Gaelic through this very
tactile piece she made from felt, tweed and vintage fabrics. 

The jacket is also on display in Urban
Outfitters.

Check out  Where I Make for more info about my studio in Edinburgh!

Celebrating 100 years of the Harris Tweed Orb!

Judy R Clark – Images Carol Ann Peacock

L-R Laurie Stewart, Harris Tweed and Knitwear, Judy R Clark, Henry Holland. Hats – Fabhatrix.


Pheasant Feather Bustle with orb hat (Fabhatrix)

Laurie Stewart, Harris Tweed and Knitwear

The centenary year of the Harris Tweed Orb was celebrated in true style  on March 12th . Alison Macleod and I co-managed the event with Lorna Macaulay to produce the event which showcased the best in British deign. It was a truly entertaining evening.

The showcase projected visuals about the history of the cloth featuring images by Ian Lawson and Carol Ann Peacock. The Laxdale ladies then took to the stage and preformed  a ‘walking song’ followed by singer song writer Irene McTaggart. Irene was fantastic on the guitar in a live acoustic session!

Laxdale Ladies backstage

Also featured in the show was ‘The Big Reveal’ where two of the cancer research workers Anne and Cathrine were game to strut there stuff down the catwalk after being made over by the hair and make up team. and adorned in harris tweed. They made over £800 during the evening kindly donated by audience members.



Now for the Catwalk…….

Henry Holland produced a show stopping collection featuring romper suits in bright purples, pinks and oranges with a hint of PVC. The designer’s range also includes silks digitally printed with a herringbone pattern that draped round the shoulders of his tailored multicoloured dresses. Alison and I could not resist trying on a couple of rompers. More photos will follow of this.(Tweedy the new puppy at the HTA chewed Alison’s camera cable so will update soon!)

Henry Holland dress and jacket

The Queen of fashion Dame Vivienne Westwood sent down a womens-wear tailored coat featuring over sized lapels in stripes of grey, blue and black from her autumn/ winter 2010 Prince Charming range. We were very pleased to have her new wears appear on the Stornoway catwalk.

Ben Sherman’s Classic Collection in traditional moss greens jackets, styled with retro braces was accompanied by a local West Highland Terrier who was also kitted out in a distinctive harris tweed coat.

Ben Sherman

Slanj produced a bespoke Harris Tweed contemporary kilt outfit for host, Fred MacAuly. Fred entertained audience in our afternoon and evening show then went on to do a killer stand up performance which led to much laughter and a few wines!

Fred MacAuly in tweed outfit by Slanj

New Scottish fashion label Jaggy Nettle supplied a range of Harris Tweed High Tops and quirky cashmere jumpers which featured throughout the show. I really want the black ‘Slag’ jumper!

Three local designers Netty Sopata, Sally Avis and Laurie Stewart collaborated on a collection using hues of greys and blues; the range features exquisite kilts designed for the female form.

Harris Tweed and Knitwear, Laurie Stewart, Joyce Paton, Iona Crawford

Iona Crawford made a four piece collection for the show in light coloured pastels lined with her illustrative silk prints.

New Glasgow fashion label Obscure Couture
produced a one of a kind play suit in leather and black and white check.
The ladies sent me some images of their new piece..check it out!


Obscure Couture

Obscure Couture


Fawns Reid, an Edinburgh based milliner, designed exclusive pieces incorporating the Harris Tweed  orb into her head wear using gold, felt, feathers and of course Harris Tweed. She has her own unique signature style which finished of the outfits in dramatic style. (Her hats feature in most of these images.)

Irregular Choice provided the show with a beautiful range of footwear, a big thank you to them for their kind sponsorship. 

Joyce Patons outfit  closed the show, alongside Harris tweed in Knitwear. The finale featured two models being piped down the catwalk holding a golden harris tweed orb designed by Joyce symbolising the homecoming of the orb.


Joyce Paton

Some of the backstage team



  
  CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO LINK   to STV film clip form the Stornoway event.

A big thank you to all that helped make the show possible. Colours Model Agency provided us with a superb team of models, they fell in love with the island and are sure to return! 

Maggie
your hospitality was great and to Christine for her four star accommodation at  the Hostel. All of our dressers backstage did a superb
job.

Alison and I had a fantastic time producing the show with Lorna and have plans to bring it to catwalk near you later this year!

Photographs from the show were provided by Carol Ann Peacock,
the images she has on her website featuring people from the island are
beautiful so please check them out! Carol Ann has a book coming out in
the Autumn about weaving with the writer and Poet Donald S. Murray.

Family fun at Donalds loom in Shawbost


Looking forward to my next trip to Lewis..

Here is to the next 100 years of the  Harris Tweed Orb..Slainte!


100 years of the Harris Tweed Orb Catwalk Show

If you didn’t know already Harris Tweed is celebrating the centenary year of the orb!

Alison Macleod of Tiger Textiles and I are co managing the fashion show with the chief executive of the Harris Tweed Authority Lorna Macaulay. We have been planning the event for the past few months now and cant wait to kick start the action on March 12th! The island will embrace the centenary year of the orb and all that is Harris Tweed!


We have a great range of British designers including Vivienne Westwood, Nigel Caborn, Henry Holland and top notch Scottish talent such as Joyce Paton, Iona Crawford and Deryck Walker.The ladies from Obscure Couture who are just back from London Fashion Week will also be producing a one off Harris Tweed outfit for the event in their own unique signature style! Local designers Netty Sopota, Laurie Stewart and Sally Jay Avis who are all natives of the Island are also collaborating in a range for the event.

The show will take place at An Lanntair Arts Centre on March 12th where Fred MacAuly will host an evening to remember; celebrating the centenary year and giving back to a community who have been producing the unique cloth for over one hundred years.

Watch this space and I will update with photographs from the event..exciting times!

In the mean time here are a few photos from my last trip where my tour guide Alison took me to visit Uncle Donald at his loom in Shawbost.






We went in for a cuppa and met their Neighbour.

The Butt of Lewis!


 

The Islanders and the Orb

I met a man in Harris Tweed

As I walked down the Strand;

I turned and followed him like a dog

The breath of hill and sea and bog

That clung about that coat of brown,

And suddenly, in London Town,

I heard again the Gaelic speech,

The scrunch of keel on shingly beach;

The traffic’s never-ending roar

Come plangent from a shining shore;

I saw the little lochs where lie

The lilies, white as ivory;

And tumbling down the rocky hills

Came scores of little foaming rills,

I saw the crofter bait his line,

The children herding yellow kine,

The barefoot woman with her creel,

The washing-pot, the spinning wheel,

The mounds thrown up by patient toil,

To coax the corn from barren soil.

With buoyant step I went along

Whistling a Hebridean song

That Iain Og of Taransay

Sang one enchanted day.

I was a man renewed indeed

Because I smelt that Harris Tweed

As I went down the Strand.