Dame Zandra Lindsey Rhodes (born 19 September 1940), is an English fashion and textile designer. Her early education in fashion set the foundation for a career in the industry creating textile prints. Rhodes has designed garments for Diana, Princess of Wales, and numerous celebrities such as rock stars Freddie Mercury and Marc Bolan. She has also designed textiles for interiors, featuring her prints on furniture and homewares. In 2003 Rhodes founded the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

Over her 50 year career Rhodes has won numerous awards recognising contribution within the fashion industry, including Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Performing Arts – Costume Design 1979, A Rhodes dress featured on a commemorative UK postage stamp issued by Royal Mail in 2012 celebrating Great British Fashion.

Early life and education

Rhodes was born 19 September 1940, in Chatham, Kent, England. Her mother was a fitter at the House of Worth in Paris and later became a professor at Medway College of Art, now the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester. Her father was in the air force in Egypt and later became a lorry driver. Three years after Rhodes was born, her mother gave birth to her sister Beverley Rhodes. she has described her mother as one of her greatest influences, to whom she owes her career.

Rhodes first studied at Medway College of Art; her major area of study was printed textile design in England.

In 1969, Rhodes and Ayton went their separate ways, with Rhodes establishing her own studio in Paddington in west London. As a freelancer she released her first solo collection. The collection of garments received recognition from both the British and American market. Marit Allen, editor of American Vogue at the time featured pieces of Rhodes’s collection in an issue. Receiving recognition by Marit Allen persuaded high end retailers like Henri Bendel, Fortnum and Mason, Neiman Marcus, and Saks to purchase her collection.

Rhodes created handmade evening wear using her unique feminine textiles. Each garment created incorporates different types of feminine style into place. She made her biggest splash in 1977 with the establishment take on punk, which she called Conceptual Chic. She created dresses with holes and beaded safety pins – 10 years before Versace – to form a sort of embroidery, mixed with loosely drawn figures screen-printed on silk jersey, or on the newly developed Ultra suede fabric.

Multidisciplinary design

Rhodes has branched out from fashion, bringing her textiles into other design disciplines. In 1976 Rhodes designed her first interior home décor collection, licensed under Wamsutta.

The San Diego Opera commissioned her to design the costumes for their production of Mozart's The Magic Flute in 2001. In 2004 she designed the set and costumes for the San Diego Opera performance of Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles. She designed for Verdi's Aida at the Houston Grand Opera and English National Opera. In 2002 Rhodes designed a poster for Transport for London showing the River Thames as a woman wearing London landmarks as jewellery.

Rhodes is the founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, which opened in May 2003. The four-million-dollar project took approximately seven years for architect Ricardo Legorreta to build. The museum provides exhibitions and educational programs for fashion students. Contained in the museum is a library and lecture room that will help immerse people into the ways fashion has impacted society throughout the years. She appeared, as herself, in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous during the BBC show's second season. Rhodes was a guest judge for the first episode of the third season of Project Catwalk.

In November 2010, Rhodes was appointed chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts, one of the UK's newest universities and only the second to focus specifically on art and design. An official installation ceremony was held in June 2010 in the Banquet House, Whitehall, accompanied by a fashion show.

Marks and Spencers introduced the upmarket Zandra Rhodes collection, modelled and made by Rhodes, into the bigger stores by late 2009. She has her own collection of jewellery. The Zandra Rhodes jewelry includes five separate collections, which are Oriental Whisper collection, Punk Chic collection, Lovely Lilies collection, Signature collection and Manhattan Lady collection.

A more recent jewellery collection created in collaboration with Adele Marie London, called Zandra Rhodes for Adele Marie, launched in August 2011. This collection features iconic pieces of Rhodes's early textiles work remade as jewellery. Rhodes launched a handbag range made under licence by Blueprint in 2010 and has also collaborated to produce a bed linen range and a new improved outdoor clothing range.

On 26 March 2013, Rhodes launched a Digital Study collection of 500 of her iconic garments from her private archive, as well as drawings and behind-the-scenes interviews and tutorials in her studio. The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study collection was developed through a project led by the University for the Creative Arts and funded by Jisc. Making key garments she designed available for student study worldwide.

In September 2021, Rhodes launched a 26-piece homeware collection with Ikea of Sweden, available globally in-stores and online.

Honours and awards

Rhodes was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours for services to the fashion industry, and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to British fashion and textiles.

Other honours

  • 1972 Designer of the Year, English Trade Fashion
  • 1972 Royal Designer for Industry, Royal Society of Arts
  • 1978 Fellow of the Society of Industrial Arts,
  • 1983 British Designer, Clothing and Export Council and National Economic Development Committee
  • 1985 Alpha award for Best Show of the Year, Saks Fifth Avenue, New Orleans
  • 1986-Women of Distinction Award, Northwood Institute, Dallas
  • 2019 Walpole British Luxury Legend Award

She was arrested for growing cannabis in 1986.

Notes

  • Morgan, Ann Lee (ed.) (1984) "Rhodes, Zandra (1940–)" Contemporary Designers First edition, Gale Research, Detroit;
  • O'Hara, Georgina (1986) "Rhodes, Zandra (1940–)" The Encyclopaedia of Fashion Harry N. Abrams, New York;
  • Parry, Melanie (ed.) (1997) "Rhodes, Zandra (1940–)" Chambers Biographical Dictionary Sixth edition, Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, New York;
  • Crystal, David (ed.) (1998) "Rhodes, Zandra (1940–)" The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia Second edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England;
  • San Diego Opera News Release:
  • The Art of Zandra Rhodes
  • Zandra Rhodes: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles

See also

  • List of Marks & Spencer brands
  • fashion houses
  • Per Una
  • punk era

References

Sources

  • Zandra Rhodes profile, make-me-beautiful.co.uk
  • Interview , vogue.co.uk
  • Profile , University for the Creative Arts website
  • Profile, bbc.co.uk