fashion history – KDD & Co

All dressed in yellow

how our attitudes to colour are bound up with the stories we tell ourselves

sock of the week no.12

creative and industrious stocking knitting men

sock of the week no. 6: clocks and socks

an image connecting the histories of eighteenth-century intimate apparel, government taxation, and the democratisation of timekeeping

sock of the week no.2

By: Kate Davies Designs June 2, 2021June 2, 2021

History, sock of the week, socks, textile history, textilesfashion history, frame knit stockings, Lady Clapham, Lord Clapham, silk, silk stockings, sock of the week, socks, stockings, textile history, V&A Museum12 Comments

Eighteenth-century stockings in miniature

Journal des Dames et des Modes

By: Kate Davies Designs April 30, 2016April 30, 2016

clothing, fashion, Historydress, fashion, fashion history, haps, History, history of dress, images, journal des dames et des modes, shawls, textile history48 Comments

Over the past few months, while working on the project that has now become The Book of Haps, I’ve examined countless images of wrappable textiles. I’ve encountered many ways to wear such textiles, and also reflected on the many different contexts for their wearing. Some of these groups of images were very useful for me,…

Inspired by Gawthorpe

By: Kate Davies Designs February 27, 2016March 5, 2018

design, History, textile history, textilesCranford, design, Elizabeth Gaskell, fashion history, Gawthrorpe, History, Kashmir, Kashmir shawl, knitting, Lancashire, Rachel Kay Shuttleworth, textile history72 Comments

You may remember that, a couple of years ago, I was involved with a project to create a design inspired by the wonderful textile collections at Gawthorpe Hall. I designed the Richard the Roundhead tam, inspired by a crewel-work coverlet that Rachel Kay Shuttleworth had embroidered over several decades, in memory of her parliamentarian ancestor,…

today’s inspiration

Kerstin Olsson in Karen Invarsson’s Bohus design “The Swan”. Twiggy iconic in Fairisle The McCartneys in Shetland Yoke design by Unn Søiland (1951) Yokes, knitted & crocheted pre-1950 Can you guess what my next book is going to be about?

suit of the day

By: Kate Davies Designs August 23, 2012

fashion, Historyfashion, fashion history, History, Paul Poiret28 Comments

This Poiret suit is from 1914. I love its lines so much. I know I would be rubbish at actually walking in that skirt, though. Bring on the 1920s, and the knee.

on the move

By: Kate Davies Designs August 21, 2012August 21, 2012

art, design, fashion, textilesart, color moves, colour moves, Cooper Hewitt, design, fashion, fashion history, modernism, Smithsonian, Sonia Delaunay30 Comments

Sonia Delaunay, Driving Caps, Silk and Wool, 1924-28. Included in the Cooper-Hewitt Color Moves exhibition, 2011. I am taking a break from my collection today, and researching a feature which somehow keeps bringing me back to the work of Sonia Delaunay. I came across these amazing wool and silk ‘driving caps’ that she designed, and…