A handwritten envelope came through the post last week. Such a welcome change from typed addresses. It was a catalogue and exhibtion invitation from a friend of mine, Charlie Mackesy.
Charlie’s work is breathtakingly beautiful and thought provoking. But this beauty comes out of an immense amount of hard work. I found this so encouraging for my own work. If it is worthwhile doing it is probably going to take some time.
The late Jean Muir once said that she thought that fashion is industry, not art, and that it is only when we know our industry well that we can turn it into our own art. This doesn’t just apply to artisitc talent like Charlie’s or to fashion, like Working Frocks. We can seek to understand our ‘industry’ in whatever situation we find ourselves So whatever you are doing this week: megaspreadsheets; looking after the children; work planning; back to back meetings, designing a new collection, do it with all your heart.
