Born in Japaratuba, Brazil, in 1910, Arthur Bispo do Rosário worked as a navy ensign until 1938, when he claimed he had been visited by Christ and a host of blue angels announcing him he had been chosen to present to God at the end of time the part of the world that he deemed worthy of redemption.
Soon after telling other people about his vision, Bispo was interned in a psychiatric hospital where he spent five decades. During his internment he started producing tapestries, sculptures and ceremonial garments.
Some of his pieces currently exhibited at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale are inventories of what he thought he would have presented to God, others are accumulations of materials, assemblages and collages of tools and assorted objects, from wood and cloth to bnes and plastic.
The artist, who produced over eight hundred pieces, often employed in his works embrodery, a technique that the men in his hometown used to make religious banners.
Bispo often sewed his pieces from bedsheets embroidering prophecies, poetry and pictograms with the blue thread he unravelled from hospital uniforms. He also made garments such as his “Manto de apresentação” (Presentation Cape), a piece that features intricate embroidered and appliqued motifs made with thread, paper and metal.
Some of the themes in Holly Penfold's designs indirectly call to mind Bispo's works. The young designer, who presented her graduate collection at the end of May during the Westminster University fashion show, based her pieces on geometrical patterns, but draped and pleated large quantities of different fabrics to create oversized garments with a hieratic tribal edge about them. Penfold decorated her designs with embroidered motifs, using Brazilian wood as the main natural dye.
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Holly Penfold: I was born and brought up in Esher. I first started my study of fashion at Esher College. I had studied textiles at school, but Esher College gave me a great base for pattern cutting and design. I then went to Wimbledon for my foundation year, and onto The University of Westminster where I have just completed my degree and final collection.
In your lookbook you reference traditional dresses, can you tell us more about the starting point behind your collection?
Holly Penfold: I am fascinated with traditional clothing, historic and cultural, I think most designers are; I'm interested in learning new construction or fabrication ideas as they always provide me with the perfect starting point.
Your designs are chacterised by oversized yet soft, draped and tufted silhouettes, but by studying your lookbook it's clear you are fascinated also by geometrical figures and patterns, was it challenging to achieve softness via the rigidity of geometrical figures?
Holly Penfold: I've always had a technical eye, and in fact for my collection, the designs all began as these very geometric shapes, but I decided to play with scale, expanding them to almost 5 meters wide and gathering them up to create some rather beautiful structures.
Did you also use any traditional techniques for the embroidered or the tufted motifs?
Holly Penfold: I'm not sure if they were 'traditional' or not really, I had a vision for both and gradually figured out a way of doing them that worked for me. The embroidering was done using all different qualities of yarn and an embroidery hoop, the larger scale embroidery was just free hand - no hoop! The ruffles involved a lot of gathering and hand sewing.
Can you tell us more the materials you employed for this collection, which were your favourite ones?
Holly Penfold: The materials were all organic cottons, and natural dyes, something I love and I'm super passionate about. I've spent a lot of time experimenting with fruit and vegetable dyes, eventually for the collection I chose to use Brazil wood and old rustic natural dye extracts, when mixed they created this wonderful golden orange. It left my hands rather stained, as I don't like wearing gloves, but it was all worth it!
Frida Kahlo appears every now and then in your lookbook, is she your favourite artist?
Holly Penfold: Yes, she is! I could go as far as to say she's an idol of mine, if I could I would buy her whole wardrobe as I think her style is so strong and beautiful, obviously along with a painting or two!
Were you excited about presenting the collection during a proper catwalk show and how was it?
Holly Penfold: It was an exciting prospect, I don't think it quite hit me until we were backstage and dressing, that it was all real, I just loved that buzz of excitement in all the chaos. I figured I'd either be crying or laughing and luckily it was the latter!
What's the best lesson you were taught at the placements/internships you did so far?
Holly Penfold: I actually think the most valuable lesson was not to do with a specific internship, it was during my placement year when I chose to devote time to researching into more natural fashions, I came into my own in that year, discovering my love and passion for a more eco-friendly lifestyle, which obviously changed the way I thought about fashion and my design aesthetic. But I am now looking forward to working with a company with those same morals that I can learn from.
Would you prefer to start your own label or work for a fashion house?
Holly Penfold: Eventually I would love to start up my own label - sustainable, obviously! But first I want to build on my understanding of this side of the industry. I think it is essential to have a close relationship with manufacturers, so you can trust their work ethic. I am hoping to travel out and work with some manufacturers in India and Peru, on farms and in the factories, to get a real feel of how the fabrics are produced. I would also love to work with a sustainable fashion brand to get an even better understanding of how it all works!
Photographs of Holly Penfold's collection by Simon Armstrong.
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