Women in chintz

Textile design as a profession for women in the 1920s

Thu 24th June 2010
7-8.30pm

MODA
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Hertfordshire

By the 1910s more women than ever were attending art classes at London’s Schools of Design and Technical Colleges, but how did they go on to earn their living? This talk looks beyond the well-known work of the Omega Workshops and Footprints to reclaim a lost generation of modern women who also exploited their art-education to forge careers as professional designers.

Illustrated with the work of Winifred Mold, Dora Batty, Minnie McLeish and Madeleine Lawrence this talk will explore the fashionable ‘everyday’ floral fabrics of furnishing and dress in the 1920s. In doing so it will examine the irresistible lure of the eclectic range of styles on offer, be they exotically oriental, daringly futuristic or simply nostalgically English. How did the quintessentially feminine world of the modern department store collide and collude with traditionally masculine world of the design studio?

£7 full price, £5 concessions, includes refreshments.
Lecture starts at 7.30pm.