Work experience with Zandra Rhodes

I was lucky enough to gain work experience at Zandra Rhodes print studio in London.  Her studio sits above The Fashion and Textile Museum and is where all her creations happen.  I worked within the studio for two days amongst the print designers and the pattern cutting designers and it was such a surreal experience!  It was the first time I had experienced working within a fashion atmosphere and it was so exciting.  Zandra is still very hands on with her studio and likes to work amongst everybody as well as meeting with clients to discuss private orders.
Whilst I was there I dealt with phone calls, organised post and invitations to events as well as helping out with whatever they needed me to do.  Unfortunately I could not work within the print studio because other interns were in there doing their two month placements.  But I still got to see the end results of the screen printing, as well as results of digital print designs.
I loved the layout of the studio; there is a big pattern cutting room one end and a big design room the other end.  Each room is filled to the brim with Zandra's old designs and pieces from previous collections, there are splashes of colour everywhere and boxes overspilling with hair pieces and anything brightly coloured.  The print room is filled with lots of different screens which house every single hand painted print Zandra has ever designed, the screens are only ever exposed once so once it has been used it stays there forever.  It was fascinating!

One of the days I had the privilege to be Zandra's model for her new Spring/Summer 2013 collection which is showing at a fashion show in Gibraltar at the beginning of October.  I spent four hours in her penthouse trying on the new collection so that Zandra could style each look and see which pieces were going to be worn together and what should open and close the show.  She also organised what jewellery, glasses and head pieces compliment each outfit.  This was such a great experience and something that I only could have dreamt of!  The new collection is amazing and the colours, fabrics and textures are so exciting...you will have to watch this space to find out which pieces made it into the Spring/Summer collection!!

Even though I was only there for a short amount of time, I learnt so much about the industry and how busy the studio can be!  I also took some of my own textile work with me to show Zandra and she spoke to me about it and gave me her opinion on what she thinks works well and how to improve the hand printed effect.  This was amazing and such a once in a life time opportunity!  I am hoping to go back there next summer to do the print internship for two months.  

Here are some pieces from her Autumn/ Winter 2012 Collection:

I love the colours within this collection.  The prints are gorgeous, so vivid and eye catching!

Images source: http://www.zandrarhodes.com/collection_2012_autumnwinter.html

http://nowfashion.com/29-02-2012-zandra-rhodes-ready-to-wear-fall-winter-2012-paris-show-1810.html