Zandra - Mintwiki

The lovely thing about fashion designer Zandra
Rhodes, CBE, is she’s not remotely precious as a
collector. Walk round the colourful, open-plan
kitchen-diner of her penthouse flat in London’s
South Bermondsey, and you’ll see platters and
dishes by Carol McNicoll full of tangerines and
kiwi fruit, and – shock horror! – jugs by McNicoll
again and Kate Malone displaying dried and plastic flowers.
Rhodes has been collecting for over 40 years,
but these makers are her friends and collaborators. Sometimes she took a piece in lieu of
payment; at other times, she’d buy artwork to
support the fledgling career of a young graduate.
‘When Carol was a student she worked for me as
a printer one holiday in the 70s. At the time she
was living with Brian Eno. When she left to go to
the RCA, I said, “What do you do?” And she said,
“I’m a ceramist,” and she showed me these fabulous pink cups and saucers. And so it started me
off. I commissioned a whole dinner service which
she decorated with my prints.’
This isn’t a formal collection behind glass.
Even the more valuable pieces – early-career
McNicoll tea pots and cups and saucers, asymmetric soup dishes and jugs – are used at
Rhodes’s epic dinner parties (she piles each table
setting on a Japanese lacquer tray with chopsticks to avoid table cloths and fiddly cutlery).
Many pieces are elegantly faded, or worn, but
they are greatly loved. ‘Whenever Carol asks for
bits for an exhibition, I have to say: “Oh mind the
chips!”’ Rhodes laughs. She relies on her friend
Bouke de Vries, London’s top mender, to make
running repairs.
Her flat, with its aerial garden, sits on top of
the Fashion and Textile Museum, a bright pink
and ochre Mexican-style blockhouse designed by
Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, opened by
Rhodes in 2003. The views are amazing: London
Bridge, Foster & Partners’ gherkin, and on a good
day, the whole of the East London skyline. She
sold her home in Notting Hill Gate to finance the
Museum. When she first moved in, Bermondsey
Street was pretty deserted. Now it’s full of chi-chi
bars and galleries. Plans for three new residential
towers by Tate Modern architects Herzog & de
Meuron will also bring new people into the area.
Rhodes, an extraordinarily vital figure at 67,
with her pink hair and wild eye makeup, is the
original couture queen of punk. Back in the 60s,
she studied textiles at the RCA, where her peers
were Ossie Clark and David Hockney. Unable to
find anyone to make garments that would display
her swirly all-over prints, she began designing
her own dresses. By 1969 she had established her
own retail outlet on the Fulham Road (after borrowing £1,000 from actress Vanessa Redgrave).
In the 70s she had made her name dressing
Bianca Jagger, Natalie Wood and Tina Chow, in
flamboyant, floaty gowns. She also designed butterfly-winged tops for Marc Bolan and Freddie
Mercury. Princess Anne wore a Zandra Rhodes
shell-print organza dress for her engagement
photo to Mark Phillips. Later, caught up in the
excitement of punk, her innovative approach to
the construction of garments could be seen in
her use of reversed, exposed seams and jersey
dresses decorated with tiny jewelled safety pins
and tears.
Zandra has always diversified. She’s designed
make-up for MAC, Royal Doulton tableware, fabrics for Osborne & Little. There were the sets for
The Magic Flute and Aïda, as well as the bollards
and swirly lamposts for the Bellenden Renewal
Area in Peckham. In the 90s, her company went
into voluntary liquidation, and for a time she was
in the fashion wilderness. But recently there’s
been a Rhodes revival: Dazed & Confused and
Harper’s Bazaar have hailed her as a style icon,
and her influence can be gleaned in the collections of John Galliano and Roberto Cavalli.
Gucci’s Tom Ford and Kate Moss are both known
to collect vintage Rhodes. TopShop commissioned a range of her printed tops – and, in May,
Marks & Spencer is bringing out a collection of
her beachwear.
The Museum houses Rhodes’s 3,000-strong
collection of her own designs, along with work by
other designers including Bill Gibb and Ossie
Clark. Initially, the sale of eight apartments
within the same building helped subsidise the
museum, but now it’s owned and run by Newham
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CREDITS
The interior is painted
all the colours of the
rainbow. ‘I could never live
in a plain white space,
colour inspires me’
College of Further Education. However, the topfloor penthouse is her private fantasy space. The
first thing she did was paint the interior all the
colours of the rainbow. The bright floor tiles are
by Amtico. ‘I could never live in a plain white
space, colour inspires me.’
As for the decor: ‘My only criterion is that
I love it and have to live with it.’ A magnificent
glass chandelier by her best friend, the sculptor
Andrew Logan, has Z-shaped droplets cascading
down from it. He also contributed his woodenthrone chair, originally designed for the Alternative Miss World Contest, which he hosts each
year. (In return Rhodes designs his costumes.)
Nothing is dull or suburban chez Zandra. The
‘coffee table’ is made up of huge silver trunks
covered in fabric (they store classic Rhodes
46 MARCH | APRIL 2009 CRAFTS
designs). On it she displays vases and platters by
Kate Malone. ‘I first spotted Kate at her degree
show at the Royal College when she was doing
her sea motifs and I’ve been collecting her ever
since.’ On the walls are large canvases by Duggie
Fields, a very close friend – though he had to take
her to court back in the 1960s to get his money: ‘I
paid the deposit, and then he had to sue me
because I was so broke. I think he felt very guilty,’
she cackles.
At the far end of the room is a circular dinner
table, Rhodes’s own 1969 design, when she was
teaching, with a striking Dutch tulipiére (ornate
flower-holder) holding yellow plastic tulips.
There are teapots by McNicoll, including her
famous Alice in Wonderland tea set, originally
commissioned for Peter Blake.
Born in 1940 in Chatham, Kent, Rhodes was
inspired by costume from an early age, not least
because her mother was a fitter in Paris and
taught at the Medway College of Art. She studied
at Medway herself, before going to the Royal
College.
You’ll see her Z motif all around the room –
from the tiny Swarovski crystals on Logan’s
chandelier to the Z-shaped wooden stools, which
were originally in her fashion shop. The black
caryatids on either side of the window are mannequins inherited from a party decorator that she
has dressed and painted.
There’s an exquisite Leaning Tree sculpture,
carved from wood, that she picked up in Madras,
originally from the top of an Indian temple.
‘Andrew [Logan] said, “It looks like you!” He’s
Previous spread: Zandra Rhodes in her own designs
and mosaic jewellery by Andrew Logan, in front of screen,
hand-painted wood design by Rhodes.
Opposite: dish, large jug, vase, all by Kate Malone
Above: circular dining table, rocks and minerals; three
settings by Carol McNicoll, two in ceramic, 1975,
the nearest featuring soft crushed plates, ceramic fringe,
button flowers transfers, commissioned in 1972,
used in McNicoll’s final RCA show.
Bottom left: zigzag candlestick, Carol McNicoll, 1974;
objects from travels; marble table with Rhodes designs
inlaid, designed and made in India for Hanover 2000 Expo;
Drops from chandelier, Andrew Logan, above.
Bottom Right (l-r): teapot, cup, saucer, asymmetrical cup
and saucer, all Carol McNicoll, 1969-2007
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‘Andrew Logan’s wonderful
on holiday because he
says, “Don’t think about it.
Buy it! Or you’ll regret it for
the rest of your life”’
wonderful to have on holiday because he always
says, “Don’t think about it. Buy it! Or you’ll regret
it for the rest of your life.”’
Plaster pillars at the window came from the
theatre set of the Rocky Horror Show. A giant flock
of gold and purple swans make surreal plant
holders. And the colourful bust of Putin is actually a Russian money box that Zandra has given a
painted Dayglo jacket and tie.
In the far corner is her changing room where
she sees clients. Ornamental screens, which she
had made when she worked on an ashram in
India, hide rails of her ‘vintage butterflies’ (chiffon dresses). The open-plan living ‘acts as my
showroom, I show clothes here and I do fittings.’
The asymmetrical velvet chairs came from a
draped room set she did for Belsay Hall, the 14th50 MARCH | APRIL 2009 CRAFTS
century English Heritage house and castle in
Northumberland.
The penthouse is surrounded by a patio,
where Rhodes grows pink heather, peonies and
the 40-year-old camelias from her old garden
(which she had lifted up the side of the building
by crane), watched over by an eight-foot golden
Buddha (‘It’s polystyrene,’ she says. ‘Touch it!’)
and Indian-style polystyrene pillars, all originally
from a party at John Aspinall’s gambling club.
Rhodes is a fantastic cook and hostess. The Lshaped kitchen looks out to Tower Bridge. Here
you’ll find a Portuguese ceramic rooster, a giant
pineapple, model birds and an exotic collection of
teas. Despite her ornate creations she can’t bear
waste, and recycles everything in her compost
pile – including tea bags for her beloved camelias.
She divides her time between Bermondsey and
San Diego, California, where she lives for two
weeks of every month with her Egyptian
boyfriend, the ex-president of Warner Brothers,
Salah Hassanein.
By the stairs is a large leather banquette covered in Zandra Rhodes cushions. On the long
shelf behind are vases of plastic flowers, Rhodes’s
1979 Emmy for the costume design of Romeo
and Juliet on Ice, and a sparkling bust of her – with
hair made from pink glass – a birthday present
from Logan, the twin of which is in the National
Portrait Gallery. ‘It came about because he happened to be using the top floor of my old house
in Notting Hill as a studio. He had a terrible fire
and needed somewhere to work. One day he said
to me: “You know I’d love to sculpt you before
Previous spread: painting (left), Duggie Fields,
1970s; painting (right), Andrew Stahl; on table,
fan vase, large folded paper vase, early 80s,
both Carol McNicoll, both ceramic, mosaic bust
of Rhodes, Andrew Logan
Opposite: three carved and painted brightly coloured
chairs with matching screen (in portrait) designed
by Rhodes, other chairs bought in India, blue glaze
vase by Kate Malone, assorted cushions by Rhodes.
Above left: Swan, resin Tree of Life, bought in Madras
and thought to be from the top of an Indian Temple
Above right: Putin money box, originally white plaster,
painted to suit, chairs from Zandra Rhodes shop
you change the colour of your hair.”’ In fact her
hair is still resolutely bright pink – she dyed it
dark brown once so as not to embarrass Hassanein, but soon changed it back. ‘I wasn’t me.’
Go down the flight of stairs and you’ll find
Rhodes’s library – a wonderful cosy, red-walled
room where books are colour-coded. You’ll find
art catalogues and gardening books, as well as the
storybooks (A. A. Milne, Heidi, the Flower Fairy
books) that she had as a child. And she has a magpie eye for toys: gonks, teddies, playing cards,
Russian dolls.
Next door is the bathroom, with an old Hollywood-style, mosaiced mirror by Logan. Zandra
jokes it actually makes you look ageless. In the
hallway outside the loo is a framed photograph of
Princess Diana in an original Zandra Rhodes cre-
ation. And there are sketches and cartoons of
Zandra by famous artist friends. In her bedroom,
walls have been silk-screen printed with huge
lilac and pink roses; while the sheets were
designed by Rhodes, some with bow and lily
prints, others with pleats or frills.
At the end of her hall is an amazing wall of
shelves with literally dozens of plates and dishes
by contemporary ceramists piled up like a
kitchenware shop. Even though she moved in five
years ago, she’s still discovering forgotten treasures in her packing cases.
On the floor below is Rhodes’s workroom. She
often works from 6.30am to midnight, snipping,
draping and printing. Before she dresses up in her
finery for the photographer, she is wearing a
heavy duty workman’s belt containing scissors
and designers’ tools. Her three studio assistants,
Polly, Jennifer and Kitty, clearly adore her.
A workaholic, Rhodes says she wants to end
up as a formidable dowager duchess (her heroines are Diana Vreeland and Dame Edith Sitwell).
‘I’m so English it’s not true! I like tea, toast
and The Archers. I have Desert Island Discs taped
and sent to me in America.’ But when she’s
back in London, she likes nothing better than
hosting dinner parties for 40. Which is where the
collection takes centre stage. ‘If it’s done on nice
china, I’ve always maintained that even if you
make a lousy job of the food, everyone has
a brilliant time.’
The Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey
Street, London SE1 3XF, (020) 7407 8664.
www.zandrarhodes.com, www.ftmlondon.org
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