WENDY, JANEY, JOANNE & MADGE: Inspirational Professors

'From 1964-66 Ossie Clark and his designs were frequently on the fashion pages of Vogue and other journals, and his girlfriend Celia Birtwell's prints were used for a Simon Massey collection... Janice Wainwright was also featured by Anne Batt of the Evening News, modelling her own 'gold lamé pants' with pop singer P. J. Proby (himself notorious for splitting his skin-tight trousers on Ready, Steady, Go) to prove that 'five of London's swankiest restaurants' would admit such a couple.' Swinging through the sixties and the entire second half of the 20th century, here is a history of the Royal College of Art 1948-2014. The worldwide influence of four charismatic and powerful women in charge of the college's School of Fashion changed the face of British and international style. Through their rigorous determination to produce nothing but the best, and the top-level design stars who emerged as the result, they have been largely responsible for the story of British and International fashion. Each individual professor after Madge Garland complemented the work of her predecessor. Janey Ironside, the sparkling innovator, put a modern spin on the stable foundations and was a brave and rigorous pioneer in an age of considerable resistance. Joanne Brogden consolidated what both the others had done, shepherding the school successfully into a competitive commercial world, ready for high-level industry. When Professor Wendy Dagworthy took over in the final decade of the 20th century, she took the school into a new era of British design excellence in ready-to-wear clothing. The book celebrates how the professors established links for their students between the College and famous brands such as Burberry, Kenzo Givenchy, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld and Max Mara. Chapters cover their personal lives, drinking problems, shows, marriages, London life, designer-dressmakers, 60s style, RCA takeover, galas and glamour and royalty, Lady Di's dress, the post-punk rebellion, designers to the rock stars and resignations and surprise departures. Superbly illustrated with full page and dozens of other colour photographs, rare black and white photographs, fashion stills, posters and design sketches. 230 heavyweight pages, 21 x 26cm.
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