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By Sarah Mower
There is something applicable and almost ridiculously better in the fact that Margaret Howell turned 50 in 2020 All that the designer has quietly represented for part of a century: useful, authentic, comfortable, durable
Touch garments with one goal: it’s so in keeping with the way other people think about dressing today that it’s almost as if the story has bent over itself. “I was born right after the war, so we were raised not to waste, not leave much, [do] things, cure them, fix them,” he says. Which, in my opinion, is a pretty smart thing for moments like this. “
I’m talking to a woman who probably doesn’t know how much she is considered a pioneer goddess, through two or even 3 generations of fashion people. “What I love about Margaret Howell is the way she’s humble in British design. “Jonathan Anderson says. ” From furniture to architecture and especially clothing, what it does has the strength to give the impression that it’s been there. “When I go out to tell you this: what an inspiration she is, how many enthusiasts there are of her perfectly proportioned Mackintosh, her sturdy non-professional shirts and incredibly well-cut pants, and how many love to look in your store. the accident, the wisdom it provides about mid-century aesthetics, replies: “I think I’ve been too busy to realize it. “
Or maybe it’s his modest English style, which disgusts compliments. We are in a showroom at the back of its long and spacious shop on Wigmore Street, a position of civilization where the faithful thoroughly examine books on British craftsmanship and monuments of brutalist socialists. architecture, admiring Ercol furniture, Anglepoise lamps, and hand-thrown rye ceramics.
The woman who created this serene world from an once-ignored era of postwar British culture is toused and tanned, has just returned from her confinement in the Suffolk countryside. cotton sweater with collar in an express shade of grey sage blue that you know took months to arrive. She tells me how a weekend stop in her village space, “a terrace space designed by a 1960s architect,” became a five-month space. “It was like going back to childhood, ” he smiled. Where I am is a very flat agricultural land that goes down to the sea. I love cycling, swimming and being outdoors. I think I can live outside, ” he laughs, “in a shed or tent. “
Now, at just over 60 years old, the advantages of this healthy life radiate from it. Margaret Howell is not exactly lonely or shy, but she has a quiet and careful way of settling in her words: describing the things she sees, with great precision, themes for her. “They are fabrics that evoke anything in me,” he says. Memories of things you’ve noticed or felt. I don’t forget that even at school, I used to look at a teacher’s thin brown flannel skirt and jacket, as well as the school teacher’s corduroy jacket, with elbow patches. “
The corduroy has been a mainstay of his collection for decades, at least since 1980, when Jack Nicholson insisted on dressing in his worn Margaret Howell lace jacket at The Shining. Sea Island cotton, cashmere, tweed Harris and British fabric are constant in their vocabulary. “The way I drew was essentially thinking: What do I want to use?But my technique has looked a lot like that of a chair designer or an architect: you must have the right curtains for your use, and I don’t want any more. “
It’s almost unexpected to think of parallels between now and 1970, when Margaret Howell, a new fine arts degree from Goldsmiths, University of London, started her business. Optimism in the 1960s turned into pessimism, power cuts, emerging unemployment, and a government decree ended workplaces two days a week. proved to be an opportunity to stick to his instincts and build anything small, step by step. “It came here naturally: we made garments for ourselves. But it was actually falling into this beautiful blouse in a messy sale [which] thinks to me, how can I do that?
In fact, the consequences of local trade layoffs have allowed him to find a way to start production. “My boyfriend put on a three-day week, so he can help me get things done. We built our bed on a platform, so we could install a sewing device underneath. I hired my first machinist and soon every custom piece. She laughs. ” It’s fun. Every day something happened, very fortunate because I had highly qualified machinists because a nearby factory had just closed.
His paintings came here as a total rejection of the striking synthetics of the glamour of the seventies: andromy, practical, outdoor, British. She told photographers to capture “reality: new air and clarity. “In a way, her aesthetic seduced young women who were only attacking feminism: Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch, also published in 1970 (“I went to a combined school,” notes the designer . . . This equality thing”). And in another, it was filled with nostalgia. Ralph Lauren, taking his American edition of British classics, arrived at precisely the same time. “I called her to see her, ” she said to herself. He brought some of my jackets, I remember. A lot of young Americans came here, excited about what we were doing, like Tommy Perse, who had just introduced Maxfield in Los Angeles »
By the time the Wigmore Street boutique opened in 2001, he had once returned to classic fashion culture, which had then carried over to the relentless revival of disco glamor led by Tom Ford in his Gucci years. be undeniable and comfortable, “he said. I never liked metal and shine. ” The concept of filling the area with items that were not in style and that could also be bought came to him on his way to his workshop. “He was walking past a clearance store, where occasionally there was a beautiful Ercol chair from the 1950s. sitting outside, which I picked up, and then I had kind of a collection, “she says. ” It reminded me that my mom gave me one of her Ercol kitchen chairs when I left home. I enjoyed it – and I still have it.
She later asked Jo Barber, a friendly merchant who worked at Greenwich Market, to help her locate parts for the store. “It was at a time when I felt that mid-century American designers had all the attention and I sought to announce Britons like Lucienne and Robin Day, and British-made products like Ercol and Anglepoise with which I had grown up. I think it would complement the clothes.
Today, the fact that British clothing brands (Mackintosh, Barbour, Fred Perry) are looking for her now is one of the wonderful validations of her career. “Recently, being invited to collaborate through long-standing companies is quite rewarding,” she said. says. ” Because they’re the kind of other people I think would cheer me on. “
After 50 years, it’s Margaret Howell’s whole circle.
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