Themes arising from the garment
The Calico Printer’s Association – Patterns of Fashion?
We instinctively associate floral ornament with resplendent tints, for the bright hues of flowers are invaluable decorative assets. But we must remember that when ornament is expressed in colour, it is used primarily to distinguish forms and to emphasise rhythms, and need not necessarily to conform to natural facts[1].
The opening quote exemplifies the vibrancy of floral pattern in everyday life; it outlines the ways in which natural form can be abstracted, and with the addition of colour, can become a replication of mood, sensory perception and a sign of the times. Dress 25 is no exception; the hues and coverage are indicative of ‘nature one wild’, untamed by man’s cultivation, exploding in a riot of colour for which the dress is the vehicle. One might conclude that such a representation of the floral form, which is indicative rather than a ‘true’ representation of specific flowers, refers to earlier examples emanating from the philosophical and Romantic approach of the Arts and Crafts Movement nearly 80 years earlier.
The essence of the design, the busyness and uncontrollable sense of coverage, heightens the sense of the Sublime power of nature and the insignificance of man. Such an assumption is certainly a product of a much earlier age; one which rejected and was repelled by the onslaught of technology in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. One might suggest that this is merely an example of history repeating itself. Dress 25 was designed and made at the end of WWII, a period when in terms of style at least, technology may have offered faith in the future, but was met in equal measure with a tentative retrogression which embraced the continuity of nature and natural form.
However, the company which produced the garment has a history pitted with this kind of sensibility, which by the mid-20th Century aimed to combine hand and machine in a changing marketplace.
Arising as a result of more than 100 years of industrialized textile manufacture in the UK, the Calico Printer’s Association (CPA)[2] was formed in 1899 comprising of 46 textile companies covering the UK, with the majority based in Glasgow and Manchester (the largest cotton manufacturing/design/retail locations). This accounted for 85% of all domestic textile production[3]. The Association was founded as a means of protecting and developing the industry, in all aspects of production, design and consumption. This involved working with domestic and overseas markets, in order to address issues of competition which otherwise might have proved overpowering[4]. By the first part of the 20th Century, the CPA dominated the production of printed dress fabrics[5]. This dominance was challenged and before the end of WWII, and the Association became a much smaller presence in the textile industry[6].
Nonetheless, the CPA emerged from the same set of socio-cultural conditions as the Arts and Crafts Movement, and although it had its roots in industrial manufacture and retail, it concerned itself with innovation and development in design. Dress 25 pays testimony to textile development and innovation in motif design.
[1] Archibald H Christie, Pattern Design: An introduction to the study of formal ornament, Dover Publications, New York, 1969, p.146
[2] For a more detailed history of the CPA see here
[3] http://carrbrookvillage.users.btopenworld.com/cpa.html#cpaback
[4] http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls/busarc/list7.htm
[5] Lesley Jackson, 20th Century Pattern Design, Mitchell Beazley, 2002, p.58
[6] 11 companies were involved in 1939. See http://carrbrookvillage.users.btopenworld.com/cpa.html#cpaback
