New Collaboration with E. Tautz
22nd February, 2021
RSN Degree Students have joined forces with menswear label E. Tautz to help create the brand’s new Autumn Winter 2021 Collection.
Degree Students brought to life images of two 19th century great textile manufacturers and their mills – Robert Owen and New Lanark, and Thomas Bazley and Barrow Bridge. Using the hand embroidery technique of Appliqué with detailed surface stitches, the students used reclaimed fabric to re-create these industry leaders’ faces and their factories. The Collection was revealed during London Fashion Week.
The E.Tautz AW21 Collection was inspired by a trip that Creative Director, and BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee judge, Patrick Grant took last year to the Isle of Skye. The spectacular rugged beauty of the landscapes combined with the rusting detritus of hundreds of years of human presence; tractors, cars stuck in peat bogs and old coaches turned into makeshift shelters, created a story in miniature, that is playing out across the planet in large scale.
Patrick Grant explains: “The Collection is in part a musing on man’s intervention on the planet, on damage, on legacy, on failure. In thinking about how to reshape our textiles and clothing industry for the better and shape it to work for the world in which we now live, I am drawn back to the lessons of the best of our past. Things were made to last, everything cherished, everyone valued. Thank you to the Royal School of Needlework and its Degree Students who brought, not only incredible skill, but also wonderful knowledge and creativity to this process.”
Angie Wyman, Degree Course Leader at the Royal School of Needlework said: “We are delighted that our students have the opportunity to gain hands on experience, working with leading designers as part of their studies. We teach hand embroidery to the highest standard and this traditional art form continues its relevance within the fashion and textile industry today. The important messages of quality and longevity also define what we stand for and there is no better proof than the fact that the RSN will be celebrating its 150th anniversary next year!”
Degree Students across all the years took part in the collaboration. RSN Degree Graduate Elsa Searle-Vincent also worked on the project, using the style imagery from her own 2020 Final Major Product to direct the unique Appliqué style that the RSN students developed. Follow Elsa Searle-Vincent on Instagram.
More information on BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery
Images Show: Work in Progress by RSN Degree Students and images of AW21 E.Tautz Collection
© Royal School of Needlework and E. Tautz
