Fashion from the Landscape

Working With Wool - Fashion Show at 'Woolfest' in Cockermouth

June 2008

Ruth Langcake begin to work on her skirt in Ashgill
Jarmila Serbincikova felt making in the workshop at Ashgill

During the last week of June, Ashgill Grampus Heritage & Training's headquarters has been the witness of a summit of creativity when Estonians, British and Slovakians gathered to create costumes for Grampus' fashion show at Woolfest 2008. The project was to design and produce a series of outfits around the theme of wool, focus point of the local festival Woolfest, sited in Cockermouth. The director of Grampus Martin Clark extended this theme by including all the different materials in the environment of the sheep. Thus grass, leather, fur, wood and even metal (after all sheep are surrounded by fences!!!) were incorporated to wool.

One part of the process of shepherding is the washing-up!
Jenny gives a spinning lesson to the Slovaks

The participants had the choice between many traditional skills in order to produce their costumes. These techniques included spinning and carding, taught by Jenny Bush, a local craft worker, grass rope making and woodwork taught by Hannah Ehlert, a coppice worker apprentice at Grampus, crochet knitting taught by Delphine Jasmin-Belisle and feltmaking, taught by Diana Markham, a young fashion designer from Cumbria.

Hannah Ehlert works on her wooden dress
The Estonians are happy to be at Woolfest 2008!!!

With this knowledge available, the participants developed theme varying between the national groups, but equally imaginative. The Slovakians, supervised by two teachers from the textile school of Kezmarok, decided to felt and spin colourful wool, creating abstract shapes and details on beautiful gowns they had sewed themselves. In a completely different order of ideas, the English developed the theme of "Marie-Antoinette" the French queen of the 18th century who played the shepherdess. With a little bit of help from a local blacksmith, Dave Watson, for the dress frames and the shepherdess' crooks, this team prepared extravagant dressed accentuated by wigs made of fleece. It is also important to mention the Wolf outfit of Jenny Bush (with an incredible mask made by Mr Watson) to scare these fancy queens.

Delphine Jasmin-Bélisle and Emma Hughes play the Marie-Antoinette on the catwalk
 Diana Markham, the feltmaker and leader of the fashion show, wearing a wooden dress made by Hannah Ehlert

If the Slovakians and the British had only a few days to make there costume from scratch, the Estonians came with their costumes already made from a long process which had taken eight months. Indeed, the Estonians came at Woolfest to display their own project named "From sheep to dress". This long term project enabled those sixteen-years-old girls to learn the complete process of creating woollen clothes: from shepherding native breed of sheep, to knitting their own dresses.

The colourful Slovak group in their abstract pattern dresses and to the right Naomi Harrison in her spider dress, realised by Martin Clark, director of Grampus
The Marie-Antoinettes

The reunion of these three national groups in a fashion show gave an astonishing result during Woolfest event (the 27-28th June). The four shows were all watched by the biggest crowds seen for Grampus' fashion events. The finale of the performance, displaying all the models on the catwalk, was a witness of the will of young people to learn about the traditional skills of their culture and to promote sustainability for a future that lies in their hands.

Grampus Heritage and Training Ltd, Ashgill,Threapland,

Wigton, Cumbria, CA7 2EL, United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 16973 21516

Fax: +44 (0) 16973 23040

E.Mail: enquiries@grampusheritage.co.uk