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Friday, 26 October 2012
ORANGE.
In 1673 during the third Anglo-Dutch war, the Dutch occupied New York and changed the name to New Orange. The following year they lost control of the city to English and the name was changed back.
If things had worked out differently wonder if Liza Minelli would have written a song ‘New Orange New Orange’?
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Friday, 18 May 2012
DAZZLE BALL.
In 1919, a fancy dress ‘Dazzle Ball’ was held at the Chelsea Arts Club.
Dazzle costumes like Yvonne Gregory’s below (photographed by her husband Bertram Park) were inspired by the painted warships from the recently ended war.
Image copyright National Portrait Gallery
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Sunday, 25 March 2012
DAZZLE.
Dazzle boats – such as the HMS Furious below – inspired the first collection for Midsummer +1.
Developed during WWI by the designer and marine artist Norman Wilkinson, Dazzle was a revolutionary scheme of camouflage. The idea behind it was to distract rather than disguise with abstract shapes and bright colours. Ships became futurist ‘canvases’ floating on the sea so that enemy ships looking through a viewfinder wouldn’t know where to attack…
Norman Wilkinson looking dapper in his bow-tie
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Thursday, 19 January 2012
THE BEGINNING…
Here’s a closer look at how plain goats leather becomes ‘Dazzled’ by artisans in Kolkata, in preparation for being turned into a Midsummer +1 bag.
the embossing block
before going into the press, the leather is dampened to soften it
each piece of leather is pressed about ten times to ensure the design is properly embossed into the leather
the plain embossed leather close up
coloured leather dyes
hand painting the leather
