My Inspirations: Jessica Ogden

About ten years ago, at the end of my first year studying Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art, I managed to secure a placement at one of my favourite fashion designers' studio - Jessica Ogden. I had first seen her work at Fabric of Fashion: a Crafts Council exhibition in 2000. I was struck by the earthy simplicity and inventiveness of her designs; she created dresses from vintage linen tea towels (back when the word vintage was far less ubiquitous!) and old 1970s Clothkits fabric. It was almost anti-fashion - much of her designs used recycled fabrics.

Dress made from old Clothkits fabric

So I was delighted to spend the summer working in her studio. I don't think that I realised at the time what a huge influence her work would become. I sat there distressing skirts with sandpaper and then darning them, to give them the appearance of a WWII relic. I used a smocking machine to make a beautiful gathered silk skirt. Tattered old quilts were cut up and transformed into jackets. I was seduced by the character and history of these ancient textiles. I had just written an essay on sustainable fashion - which seemed to me to be an oxymoron, and came to the conclusion that the least damaging to the environment was to recycle old fabrics. The word upcycle was yet to be invented.

I helped dress the models at her fashion show and took some photographs...

Hand stitched patchwork skirt

Dress made from vintage patchwork quilt top

Pleated skirt with hand stitching

Smocked and hand stitched wedding skirt

Patchwork skirt

Jacket made from vintage Durham quilt

Dress made from vintage patchwork quilt top

Jessica adjusting the wedding outfit

What inspired me to create this blog?

Until last weekend I don’t think it had ever occurred to me to create a blog. I spend too much time in cyberspace anyway and I recognise it as a block, something passive I do to procrastinate. But over the past few months I have discovered some amazing crafty blogs showcasing women’s (it always seems to be women) creations and documenting what seems to me to be an unachievable but idyllic earth-mother lifestyle of sewing, knitting and baking. Obviously not in the Stepford wife domestic slave style of previous generations but in the spirit of reclaiming these things that the feminism of the 1970’s tossed away to be the same as men.

A couple of weeks ago I paid a lot of money to a nutritionist to be told for the umpteenth time that I needed to avoid gluten (and probably dairy). Every time I am told this I stick my head in the sand because I am one of those few women who has a healthy relationship with food. I am lucky enough to never have had an eating disorder and I eat a fairly healthy diet although I do have a weakness for Green & Blacks Almond Milk Chocolate. Generally I don’t consume food with guilt and am fearful of getting neurotic about what I eat if I cut gluten and dairy out of my diet. But it also hit me that it’s ridiculous to carry on throwing money at nutritionists and ignore their advice so this time I thought I’d give it a go. I decided to search the internet for some good gluten-free recipes and the first website I found was Gluten-Free Girl, an uplifting account of becoming gluten-free after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. I loved this woman’s positive, joyful voice and almost immediately ordered her book. Now I usually buy books and let them gather dust on my bedside table for a few years but this time I devoured her book as hungrily as a bar of Green & Blacks during a blood sugar dip. And on a rare day when the sceptical, cynical monkey on my back (also known as my inner critic) was silent, I suddenly had the urge to start a blog. A couple of months ago, before starting The Artist’s Way course I don’t think I would have felt I had anything to write about. But the course has so inspired me (and reminded me that I have a strong drive to inspire others) that I thought it would be a fabulous way to document my creative adventures as well as motivation to continue this artistic journey once the course is finished. So here I am. And thank you Gluten-Free Girl, for inspiring me with your ‘glass half full’ enthusiasm and your delicious recipes.