Congratulations: Get Your Gloves On!

At the end of May 2020, the RSN Degree team received wonderful news from The Worshipful Company of Glovers regarding their annual student design glove competition for which our first years submit designs.  The RSN Degree team won the highest accolade, ‘The Silver Salver for the college making the greatest contribution to the competition’, and two Degree students won monetary prizes, Linnea Lyndon and Eliza Gomersall.

In 2020, The Worshipful Company of Glovers design brief fell in to two categories:

• ‘Fashion Meets the Future’, challenging students to fast forward to the future, and design a pair of gloves that could be worn in 2220, 200 years from now. These gloves would need to meet the demands of the new life on or off the planet.
• ‘Function Meets Fashion’, challenging students to be inspired by a functional utility glove in order to create a pair of luxury fashion gloves that elevates the original to a desirable on-trend product.

Linnea Lyndon won ‘The Dents Prize for the most commercial, creative and innovative design from all entries received.’

“For the design of my glove, I wanted to explore the idea of fashion in a future where humankind has left earth behind and escaped to another planet. In particular, I wanted to experiment with what luxury fashion would look like, especially in a future where resources are finite, and sustainability is of great importance.

I wanted to base the design of my glove around the idea of nostalgia that humans, in this hypothetical future, may have for planet earth, and to present this connection using vintage/retro imagery from the space race, which is a defining point of human space exploration.

This imagery was somewhat ill-suited to the more sophisticated visual that I wanted to achieve for a women’s luxury fashion glove. I therefore decided to base my glove design around vintage images of star charts and constellations, as the colour palette of black and white provided the sophistication I was interested in, whilst also including images of planet earth. I combined these images with a pattern comprised of circles as a way to represent the Milky Way and words such as Cassiopeia, Triangulum Australe and Centaur. These patterns translated very well into embellishment for my glove, as I was able to use small seed beads to replicate the circular star pattern for the main part of the glove, and additionally using small silver sequins and small gems to create the detail on the vintage design elements.

Since the embellishment for my glove was not considerate of resources and sustainability, I wanted this to be a feature of the fabric I used. I chose to use black leather for my glove, as leather is strong enough to support the embellishment on the glove. It is also probable that leather could be lab-grown in the future, which would remove the issue of it being a non-sustainable material. This is not a necessary feature for luxury fashion but, even today, luxury fashion brands are attempting to include more sustainable components in their designs.

Working on this project was such a fun experience and was very different from any design work I had done before. The project really allowed me to be creative with my ideas, and I enjoyed stepping outside my comfort zone a bit and tackling something new. I am also grateful to my Tutors for their advice throughout the design process. Overall, I am very pleased with my design and so happy that I won The Dents Prize!”

You can follow Linnea on her Instagram page.

Eliza Gomersall was Runner Up for the ‘Function Meets Fashion’ category.

“My glove design responds to the brief ‘Function Meets Fashion’. I have designed an après-ski glove inspired by a functional ski glove, using canvas embroidery to create a unique modern style. Moncler ‘Grenoble’ ski wear collection showcases a variety of après-ski wear with a street wear style and this inspired the concept and design for my glove.

Panels in my glove use fabrics such as leather/ faux leather and waterproof fabrics to incorporate the protective materials used to make a ski glove. Suede is used on the fingers and inner thumb to create elegance in my design as-well as being a warm fabric, adequate for après-ski wear. Bargello stitch has been used on the main body of the glove to create the illusion of a mountain landscape, with additional mountain cutwork from different leathers on the cuff of the glove. The straps are made from cotton canvas webbing stitched with oatmeal pattern using similar colours, the strap can be changed to create a different look. The detail of a white buckle worked well with my colour choice and is sufficient for tightening the glove around the wrists to maintain warmth. Velcro may be added to the back of the strap as an alternative fastening method.

My glove design is suitable and protective for cold weather environments as well as being a luxury, couture fashion item. The initial inspiration for this glove design came from my Canvaswork luggage label frame. I was inspired and led by my bold colour palette and diverse stitch patterns and thought they would complement the sport style of an après-ski glove.

Materials and fabrics used are: faux leather and faux suede, waterproof cotton, cotton canvas webbing, white plastic buckles, Appleton wools, DMC stranded cotton, Pearle cotton.

Being awarded runner up in the ‘Function Meets Fashion’ category is a great achievement, especially in my first year at the Royal School of Needlework. I am hugely grateful for this award and a prize of £250, it has given me a massive boost of confidence. The £250 prize will support my learning and go towards materials for my 2^nd year. I want to say a personal congratulations to Linnea for winning The Dents prize and to all BA1 students and the RSN Degree Tutors for their amazing entries that won The Silver Salver!”

You can follow Eliza on her Instagram page.

RSN Chief Executive, Dr Susan Kay-Williams congratulates the Degree team: “The RSN Degree team have included The Worshipful Company of Glovers competition in their programme for the past few years and have had previous successes. This year, I am particularly delighted that there is not only individual success for two of our students. In recognition of all of the students and Tutors hard work, the RSN has won the institutional prize, The Silver Salver. I am thrilled for the Degree team who work very hard to encourage the students to achieve their best and I think this is duly recognised in this award for the greatest contribution to the competition. Well done to all the students and Degree staff team who were part of this initiative!”

Congratulations to all concerned and here’s to a wonderful future!

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