CSF Researcher Professor Helen Storey takes us on her captivating life-long personal and professional fashion and textiles journey, from childhood dress-up explorations, discovering magical textile treasures, to the reclamation and reinvention of once-discarded history-imbued fabrics... She recently donated a 30-year #CreativeArchive to #UAL @unioftheartslondon For access info, please contact #LCF Archives - [email protected]
UNHCR Designer in Residence - Za'atari Refugee Camp - Jordan 2019 - 2023 X @Profhelenstorey - Instagram @dress4ourtime - now working with UNHCR Malawi & UNHCR Mozambique
'2nd Life' | Part 2 The evolution of ‘2nd life’ and reinvention began from an early age. It may have not been as ‘conscious’ as this sounds, as the feeling that asked to be followed came from my childhood days. A passion for fashion began in losing myself in the dress-up box from the age of 3. For me there was always something about ‘the find’ born in a quiet hum of revelry as a young girl, when hunting ‘for gold’ in jumble sales; the wait, for the doors to open, the charge and barge towards trestle tables strewn with possibility. Clothes that had already had a life, hinted at that life, clothed that life. The further back we could go to reconnect through those threads, from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, the more magic we could touch. Rampant technology and the web were still a whisper away and in the 80s/90s, I missed experiencing discovery, magic, dust and innocence. I was always visiting the button makers, from the back streets of London's Soho, to the East end and especially, Lalande et Collin in Paris, as if in some kind of ‘sweetie shop’ - buttons galore. It was thrilling to discover buttons that held or suggested material history and craft. A sample card still sits as if a ‘painting’ in my home. In a technological world, this button card speaks of treasure found, the touch of the human hand across time. In the early 1990s, we came across copious Amish blankets, amongst a clothes mountain imported from the USA (fashion by the ton). Rejected by fashion buyers, we keenly harvested these ‘textilian histories’ yet were torn as to whether to keep them as we found them or create ‘new’ pieces, giving them a wearable life. In the end we created a ‘one off’ capsule collection for the 1993 ‘Wild at Heart’ show and decided they shouldn’t be for sale. Instead, quietly, through the existence of the pieces themselves, they signalled for us the value of history and the precious in our ‘buy all you can buy’ culture. My son Luke and I were asked by ELLE Magazine, in 1993, to share our hunting grounds for second-hand clothes. I remember the shoot landed on a day of dreadful personal news. Yet on ‘auto pilot’ we turned up, me in my ‘2nd Life’ gear and Luke in his favourite jeans – the contrast between Luke’s energy and mine was notable – fashion and life collide. Image descriptions and credits: 1. Helen Storey feature in ELLE Magazine, 1993 2. ‘Dressing up from the beginning’ - A favourite black cotton lace dress (with bright green lining) and a hat from the 1940’s. 3. Jumbling Sale-ing, aged 12, with my mum wearing her much-loved purple hat. 4. Helen Storey sample button card from Lalande et Collin in Paris. 5. Helen Storey Amish Textiles Piece, 1993 I recently donated a 30-year creative archive to University of the Arts London. For any enquires relating to access, to the digital and physical collection, please contact the LCF Archives at [email protected] #UAL #UniOfTheArtsLondon #LCF #LondonCollegeOfFashion #HelenStorey