Storey Story

Showstudio just posted that the finale film of Helen Storey's latest project "Wonderland" is now online, and it reminded me that I had written up a little pitch about her and her work for a magazine....never got published, but seems as good as an excuse as any to put it up here for web enjoyment.

What is the purpose of a dress that disappears, anyone would ask. But for Helen Storey all art has to have a purpose and her latest work ‘Wonderland’ is no exception. The project, which is a collaboration with scientist Tony Ryan, is a collection of 6 dissolving dresses created at London College of Fashion that will tour nationally this year. The collection speaks of disposable fashion, but takes it to the extreme. Storey is creating dresses that commit suicide and is inviting us to watch. She hopes to open up debate and encourage discussion about the environment, technology, and fashion.

This is not Storey's first attempt at bridging science and fashion. 'Primitive Streak' was a groundbreaking collaboration in 1997 between Helen and her sister Dr. Kate Storey, a biologist. The collection illustrated the first 1000 hours of life, telling the story of human development through clothing. The primitive streak, after which the project is named, is a formative development in the human embryo that some bioethicists believe signifies the creation of a unique, potential human being.

Before Storey started breaking boundaries, she had a fabled background in fashion. Daughter of playwright David Storey, she landed a plush job at Valentino in 1982 after finishing college. Her own fashion label was launched in 1984 with Helen eventually winning Most Innovative Designer in 1990 after her collection entitled "Rage". She was known as a designer of 'shock-frocks', using shocking imagery, displaying bare bums, as well as using materials like bin bags and paper trash to make evening wear.

The business lasted ten years. In her own words, "In 1995, struck by personal tragedy, a sense of total burn out and having lost my direction, the business was closed and in its place I sat still to contemplate the future." Helen struggled to figure out what to do next. She wrote her autobiography "Fighting Fashion", did charity work, and collected unemployment. Her sister sent her a brochure from the Wellcome Trust about bringing together artists and scientists. That lead to 'Primitive Streak'.

Storey seems to have found her way again. She and her partner Caroline Coates established the Helen Storey Foundation, a non-profit arts organization to promote creativity and innovation. Since then, Storey has developed emotional, large-scale projects that connect science, art, fashion, and humanity. Storey is currently a Visiting Professor of Material Chemistry at Sheffield University.

Throughout her career as a fashion designer, Helen repeatedly expresses doubt about being a fashion designer. In the catalogue essay for her ten year retrospective, Helen says, "Designers should be looking at why they want to be designers in a world that doesn’t need them." Now her work presents clothing as art, not meant to go into production and sold in stores, but as items with meaning and the power to communicate.

When Helen brought the 'Primitive Streak' collection to China she explained to students there that she moved towards experimental work in order to create work that will last. How strange that her most ambitious project to date is about creating dresses that will disappear.

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There's great press/images on the Helen Storey Foundation website, a few of my favorites:

L to R: a dress from the Primitive Streak collection, Christy Turlington in Vogue, a ball skirt made of bin liners

I'm teaching some classes at Etsy

Hey long lost internet! I know I've been neglecting you, but I swear I have been doing lots of work :)

I'm teaching some classes at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn this August, September and October. They are going to be really fun affordable classes (see the listings below) in Printing, Dyeing, and Felting. I'm both nervous and excited to teach textiles and printing.....yikes! Come down to the Labs, everyone is so nice there!


*Print with Heat!*
Saturday, August 16, 2008
1:00pm-4:00pm
Screen printing is messy and digital printing is so expensive, why not learn to put imagery onto fabric using heat! Etsy Labs has a sweet little heat press where we can print on t-shirts, dresses, pillowcases, you name it! And you can continue to print at home using your regular home iron. I'll teach a variety of ways to print using heat to transfer your print onto a range of surfaces. We will print with colored paints, metallic foil, and flock. I will bring all the printing materials, you just bring what you want to print on and ideas of what you want to print.


*Intro to Dyeing*
Saturdays, September 20 & 27, 2008
1:00pm-4:00pm
There is more to dyeing fabric than just an ol' box of RIT dye! The colors from natural dyes are very soft and rich and impossible to create with modern chemical dyes. The first class we'll learn how to mix up the natural dyes. You will learn how to make natural dye from vegetables, spices and leaves (provided). We will also try a variety of other hot and cold water chemical dyes the second week. Bring in any fabric you want to dyes. The lighter the base fabric, the more accurate the dye will be, but sometimes lovely layers can be created by dyeing over other things. We will also practice techniques to create patterns through dyeing, using methods like shibori & batik.


*Feltmaking from Scratch*
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
6:30pm-9:00pm
Spend an evening fooling around with wool. Learn to make felt from wool fibers with just soap and water. Felt is so easy to work with and handmade felt is so much nicer than what you can buy at the craft store! Make fabric, buttons, rope, balls & pompoms and a whole lot more. Come with ideas for what you need in your own work and we will figure out how to make it. I will bring a wools in a variety of colors for everyone to play with. if you're not sure what to make with this amazing fiber I will have a couple of project ideas to give you. Felt is fun! No experience necessary.

New bag

I got a chance to spend a week with the patternmakers in the workshop at work last week and I designed and developed 2 bags of my own design (not for a collection to be produced for my job). Here is the first one:







The flap is laser cut with a laurel pattern and underlaid with mahogany suede. The bag itself is a sea blue "soft port" leather. The strap grip is gray soft port too and it's woven based on a pattern fram a Chinese Finger Trap. The hardware is all antique brass, and the lining is a deep gold asian faille.

I worked with an awesome patterncutter (thanks Koko!) who helped me work out all the details, specs, and kinks. And of course the machinists & craftsmen from the studio showed me all of the tricks of the trade and made the bag look as beautiful as it could be. I'm so thrilled with the experience and have a lovely bag to show for it as well.

I'll post pictures of the second bag when it's finished. We ran out of time for me to be in the studio so I'll have to wait for them to sew it up without me, but I got to do a lot more of the patternmaking for this one so I'm very proud.