The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has launched a digital archive of work by celebrated British
fashion designer Zandra Rhodes at:
The collection was unveiled by actress
Joanna Lumley at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London
on Tuesday 26 March 2013.
Researchers and students from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) have worked alongside Zandra Rhodes to painstakingly prepare, photograph, and catalogue 500 dresses and garments selected from the designer’s private archive
at her studio in London, including pieces worn by icons such as Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diana Ross.
The project has not only catalogued these designs for future
generations but also created contextual learning materials which explore her creative processes and production techniques, through video interviews, video
tutorials, and over 1000 pages of
exquisite drawings from the 'Zandra Rhodes Style Bibles'. The videos show the designer's techniques from sketchbooks to screenprinting, and explore the
inspiration and stories behind her favourite pieces and collections.
Zandra Rhodes studied at one of UCA’s founder colleges, the Medway College of Design, and became UCA’s first Chancellor in 2010.
The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection has been made available online for non-commercial use in learning, teaching, and research worldwide, and the project was funded by a grant from Jisc.
See the press release on the UCA website at:
See the project in action in
the ITV news report at:
To find out more about how the digital collection was created, see the project blog at:
