Not currently on display at the V&A

Field of Lilies

Dress Fabric
1974 (made)
Artist/Maker
Zandra Rhodes (designer)
Place of origin
London (made)

Screen-printed dress fabric.


Object details

Categories
Textiles
Fashion
Clothing
Object type
Dress fabric
TitleField of Lilies (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Screen-printed
Screen Printing
Brief description
Screen-printed dress fabric 'Field of Lilies', designed by Zandra Rhodes, London, 1974
Physical description
Screen-printed dress fabric.
Marks and inscriptions
'a field of lilies / a lily / grass / lots and lots of beautiful lilies / lilies and yet more lilies' (Printed)
Object history
Zandra Rhodes considers the Lily prints to be the best of her work, and particularly significant. It was while developing the Lily textiles that she developed the method of reversing the silkscreen to produce a mirror image of the print and create symmetrical patterns. This went on to influence many of her future significant prints, such as 'Lace Mountain', 'Cactus Volcano' and 'Scribble Turnaround'. The Lily prints also represent the introduction of handwriting and calligraphy into her textile designs. Another point of significance for Zandra is that the Lily dresses were the first dresses that she started applying beading to, which would become a future trademark.

This particular dress is a version of Butterfly No 66/cat no 73/44 as depicted in Rhodes' autobiography (1984), although our dress is cream rather than pink. (The Gallery of Costume at Manchester own a version in the same colourway as in the book).

Reference: Rhodes, Zandra and Knight, Anne, The Art Of Zandra Rhodes, London, 1984
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
CIRC.277-1974

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O266065/field-of-lilies-dress-fabric-zandra-rhodes/
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