Studio 03: The Eye Has To Travel

Studio brief

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions." – Albert Einstein

Before fashion editors became personalities/street-style stars/fodder for major motion pictures, there was the eminently quotable, largely self-invented and always fascinating Mrs Vreeland. Her life took her from Belle Epoque Paris to Studio 54, her friendships ranged from Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson to Andy Warhol and Jack Nicholson, and her imagination and keen eye propelled the pages of Harper's Bazaar (1936-1962) and Vogue (1962-1971) into the future and revolutionized the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute (1971-1989). A true original, influencing countless future generations of designers and creative minds alike with her wild inspiring life, full of vim, vigour, and what D.V. called “Faction” as in both fact and fiction because, as she once explained “why not make a story more interesting?”

The Eye Has To Travel will be the textile studio with a dash of fashion, fueled by the ingenious spirit of the late great Diana Vreeland. Her personality and influence will shape our world, changing ordinary things into glamorous and exotic inspirations. Watch this video to find out more about her life.

Fearlessly unconventional, this iconic empress understood our intrinsic need for stories and storytelling, to travel in the mind to a fantasy. That fashion and the arts were not merely the designing and crafting of products, but the creation of new worlds.

We as a studio will devote ourselves to this infectious, all-encompassing idea that you can make yourself and your work as interesting and as fabulous as you ever wanted. We'll live by D.V’s marvellous mantra:

-Be an Original
-Give them what they never knew they wanted!
-Reinvent yourself
-Give it some Pep! Give it some pizazzz!!
-Why be boring?
-There’s only one thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration
-Let the world around you be your education
-A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste — it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against
-Commit to everything with zeal!
-You know the greatest thing is passion, without it what have you got?
-To be contented — that’s for the cows
-There’s only one good life and that’s the life you know you want and make it yourself

Explore some of the intricate, detailed and imaginative pieces that our Textiles BA students have produced.