At the press view of the Zandra Rhodes exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, DASH had the chance to briefly chat to the renowned designer.
DASH: Zandra, how is it for you to have your exhibition here at the Fashion and Textile Museum?
Zandra: It’s quite wonderful to know the museum has been here for ten years and we can celebrate that. It’s also exciting to see work assembled that I haven’t seen since the 1980s. We have even included the ‘Conceptual Chic’ punk collection.
D: What’s the biggest achievement in your career?
Z: I enjoyed seeing the opera when I designed for it.
D: Is there any one particular collection that you like most?
Z: No, that doesn’t happen. There isn’t one because you look at it and when you come in and see the shows you’d go: “Oh, I forgot I designed that”.
D: Can you tell us three things that most people will not know about you?
Z: (long pause) I’m sure that the younger generation wouldn’t know that I was one of the first to do spectacular shows and, if they were born in the 1980s they wouldn’t have seen them. They definitely wouldn’t have seen the sketchbook dresses which are quite new but didn’t get a lot of PR. What else wouldn’t they know about me?!
D: What has changed mostly since you had your green hair in the 1960s and ’70s?
Z: What has changed since having green hair? I’m a lot older (laughs).
D: Are you still the same person?
Z: I’m still the same person but lots of young people now have coloured hair and they didn’t in the 1960s.
D: Is there any advice you would give young designers here in London?
Z: Don’t give up! Try and surround yourself with inspiring friends. The whole club exhibition gives you the feeling that they’ve been inspiring each other and doing their own thing and I think it shows the whole British thing of going your own way, regardless.
D: Thank you for your time.
