Woollen Coat

The main focus of this design project is to create a look which is very functional, comfortable and traditionally inspired. By mainly looking at the British craftsmanship movement, I want to try and replicate the quality and expertise they put into the products they manufacture. The colour scheme and seaming detail was taken from the outdoor exhibition at the Natural History Museum “Wild Planet” juxtaposed with 19^th century riding wear. By using these ideas it was obvious to my design aesthetic to focus on women’s structured wear. In this case making an outerwear coat essentially derived from the classic trench coat with a modern twist, accompanied by a pair of wool trousers. Through using the fundamentally British fabric of wool, this garment is aimed at wealthy fashion-conscious women due to its quality and desirability.

Using the exhibition and combining it with 19^th century riding wear, let me gain a vision for a strong silhouette. Creating a timeless hourglass silhouette derived from the Victorian era. I researched in depth the history of riding wear, by mainly focusing on the 19^th Century and women riding side-saddle. It was only at the turn of the 20th century  women started wearing jodhpurs. Their riding coats were not boned but still followed the fashions of that time, as many women would be corseted. However their lower half would be hidden in metres of material to emulate the look of a bustle. My silhouette is inspired by the classic riding costume, incorporating the tailoring, panelling and clever pattern cutting they used.

Both concepts have a significant history and have originated from the notion of nature and functionality. This leads me on to the relevance of the British craftsmanship movement to my concept. Many of the British brands and mills that are still afloat have been passed down by generations of families for centuries and come with a great deal of history. This is a crucial point to be made when buying into a British brand, you don’t only get a quality made garment but you get a piece of that history and the comfort in knowing where it has been produced. And what is Britain best known for, textile manufacture in wools, tweeds and cashmere. These fabrics were used for the 19^th C riding habits, as they are all natural fabrics that enable the body to breath. In particular tweeds would have been very useful in riding habits as they are very light absorbent which help the rider camouflage into the background while hunting.

British-made remains a discipline and a very constricted one, as it is very difficult to find manufactures and fabric stockists that completely make their product in Britain. Therefore it is limiting in many ways- target market as well as the fabric choice- both reflect in the price. It is a dying force of skilled labourers with an average age of about 50 (Santi, 2011). If we are to Re-vamp the whole made in Britain and bring manufacturing back to our own soil; as stated by Mary Portas we have around a 10 year window in which this can be done, as the skill of making clothes has missed a few generations (Nodder, 2012), we need these very valuable women to teach a new generation.

Furthermore, Only 15% of Barbour sales are made in Britain (Santi, 2011) and they market themselves as a British Brand (see figure 4). This does not seem a lot, however realising just how hard it is to create a “Made in Britain” product, sacrifices have to be made. Companies such as Haeden & Quarmby have had to make a lot of compromises (Knowles, 2012), by moving all they’re manufacturing overseas, as it was just not feasible to manufacture in the UK. We are however slowly seeing more clothing being made in Britain, even Topshop now have a Made in Britain Range (Topshop, 2012).  

In conclusion, trying to channel these ideas into one look has been challenging and there have been a lot of compromises to be had. As stated by the telegraph “Britain can be quite limiting”(Luu, 2012). However, by following the discipline of the British craftsmanship I have created a successful functional coat and a pair of comfortable trousers. And by not using British fabric this time, there has been a lot of attention to detail on the finish of the garment and the quality of which it has been made. 

Ashley J