Warner Textile Archive X Anglia Ruskin University

The Archive collaborated with Anglia Ruskin University to inspire the study and works of their first year students doing the courses in Fashion Design and Fashion Communication & Branding.

Students visited The Warner Textile Archive and Braintree Museum where they met staff and got the opportunity to explore the collections and displays up close for a course project.

Their project brief was to visualise and design a menswear, womenswear or gender neutral collection of five contemporary and experimental hybrid outerwear garments such as coats and jackets. These garments had to be inspired by the theme of Gothic florals and feature printed textile designs.

The displays and artefacts the students focused on at the Archive and Museum were a range of woven and printed designs spanning early hand-woven pieces from 1903 through to 1970’s hand painted artworks as well as exploring the history and impact of Courtaulds’ silk mourning crape on Victorian fashion and mourning dress.