I am interested in creativity, hence in many applied arts – not just illustration – which is the reason I went to Origin last month. One of the wildly creative artists I found there is Alison Willoughby. For the last 10 years, since she finished the Royal College of Art, she has been making skirts.
Simply constructed (she does not even apply zippers, just a buckle) they are: Willoughby’s interest is in the design of the surface. She quilts, folds, embroiders, sews, screenprints and uses any other technique I can think of to make skirts that are often beautiful but always great fun.
Not being much of a skirt person myself, I settled for the book she wrote, in which she explains in detail how to make many of her whimsical creations. The one in the picture below is made by sewing on layers of material, sewing straight lines and then cutting through all the layers – which makes beautiful frays.
Willoughby would make a great graphic designer – her compositions and use of colour are bold, smart and very yummy. Check out her weblog here.
One word of advice if you feel like making one of her patterns: go for light fabrics! Some of the skirts I took out of the racks in London were pretty heavy.
Wow! I just learned about her skirts from my friend Sophie. Absolutely incredible. I love how artists can take a limitation (ie a basic skirt) and make something so creative with it.
I love the second, red one! Cool, thanks for sharing (I had just been thinking of sewing some basic clothes in my spare time (ha!) this may just make it happen!
P.S. Love your picture Kitty! A face with the name!