“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli was a bold risk taker, one whose eccentric, flamboyant designs brought apparel in line with 20th century, avant-garde art movements including Dada and Surrealism. Recognised today as one of the most prominent and influential voices from the Parisian 1930s, 40s and 50s, Schiaparelli’s adventurous…
All posts by Rosie Lesso
The sharp, minty tinge of MOSAIC Linen was a firm favourite with British artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, lending her artworks the biting transparency of freshly cut ice. A pioneer of abstraction during the interwar period, Barnes-Graham returned again and again to craggy, rocky, or glacial landscapes, tracing jagged contours with spidery, meandering lines and mirroring wide…
“I do not want all women to look and dress exactly alike. I want them to be as different in their dress as they are in their personalities.” Paul Poiret the man was as bold, brazen and uncompromising as his fashion. At the height of his career in the Parisian Belle Epoque era, America crowned…
“Modern clothes need a certain romantic feel.” From humble beginnings, Jeanne Lanvin built a fashion empire, one that is still standing strong today. Lanvin found international fame during the 1920s, as the streamlined aesthetic of Art Deco was rising around her, but in contrast, her style was billowing, decadent and romantic, bringing sumptuous fabrics, luxurious…
KRISTA NATURAL linen has the creamy freshness of homemade custard or Cornish cream. British painter Ben Nicholson brought this colour’s glowing light into his carefully structured, minimal canvases and relief sculptures, investing them with an intimate warmth that seems somehow instantly familiar. Whether portraying landscapes, interiors or still life subjects, his artworks were an exercise…
The fin de siècle was a time of cataclysmic change: rising industry, the age of enlightenment and women’s liberation pulled apart 18th and 19th century Victoriana. Fashion adapted quickly as designers broke away from centuries of stifling tradition with loose silhouettes and experimental designs, allowing both men and women to move freely without constriction, and…
“My work is a kind of handbook – to deal with the ghosts of what has happened.” When Lubaina Himid won the Turner Prize in 2016 the world sat up and took notice. Not only was she the first black woman to be presented with the award, but at 63 years old she was the…
Bold, vibrant and filled with optimism, PACIFIC BLUE linen mirrors David Hockney’s dazzling, eye popping blues. Celebrated for his playful and adventurous colour palette, Hockney spent his early years as an artist living and working in LA. Moving between the UK and US in his later years, the vivid colours of California stayed with him…
AGAVE linen’s cold, watery green flowed through Edgar Degas’ paintings, illuminating grassy banks, café scenes and private interiors with the fresh sheen of Parisian light. Though his subjects were hugely varied, Degas’ paintings pivoted around moments of suspended tension, from racehorses to jittery dancers and precariously balanced nudes. Silvery green tones helped him invest this…
Ice cold and shot through with mint, the sharp blue of MOONFLOWER linen played a vital role in Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings, bringing fresh light into his rippling water and wide open skies. A leading painter of the Dutch Renaissance, Breugel pioneered a new brand of genre painting that was larger and more imaginative…
The hazy, lilac blue of WISTERIA linen seeped into the artworks of the late 19th century Symbolist era, casting diffused light that suggests the silent land of dreams. French painter Edouard Vuillard was part of this group; his quiet, intimite scenes were often cast with heather, blue and lavender tones, lending them a hushed air…
The damp, earthy green of DUSTY LOTUS Linen brought shadowy depths into John Constable’s windswept landscapes, lending them the fresh coolness of the British countryside. Glowering, tempestuous skies hang over his brooding scenes, while the land below ripples in and out of the light, shifting from sunlit leaves to moody, cold shadows. Shifting patterns of…
“I’m often thinking about how paintings position you as a viewer.” Caroline Walker’s enigmatic, quietly unnerving paintings hint at silent narratives without giving away the game. Women are her subjects, seen from afar in modern houses, nail bars, hotels or hospital beds, as we become passive voyeurs into their daily lives. Much like the 20th…
With the heady richness of crushed blackberries or port red wine, WILDCHERRY linen’s tart shade of burgundy stained deep into the canvases of Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, lending them the dramatic intensity of a stormy romance. Brooding, tragic heroines fill his paintings, carrying an air of wistful, melancholic longing as their long hair and…
“Success, for me, is staying true to who you are and not deviating off a path.” Amy Sherald’s striking, visually arresting portraits capture the indefinable spirit of contemporary America. Since painting Michelle Obama’s portrait in 2018, the press were quick to portray her as an overnight success, but this undermines the strength, determination and years…
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