A thoroughly modern woman

Frances Hodgkins fashioned self-portraits in still life. Instead of painting herself, she’d fill the canvas with her favourite things; her beloved beret, decadently draped scarfs, sweet flowers and smart kitten heels. Stand-ins for her true self, they reveal layers of her personality with joyfully mastered strokes.

Like many New Zealanders with a love of art, Kate Sylvester grew up admiring Frances’ works. The remarkable expatriate, known in Britain as one of the most important modernist painters of the 20th century, brought a fresh perspective and Kate loved the femininity of her work. Yet it wasn’t until the designer first laid eyes on the late artist’s textiles in March 2018, that she began to discover the full power of Frances.

The serendipitous encounter occurred when Kate was visiting Te Papa Tongarewa for an entirely different project – commissioned to make a waistcoat for Michael Parekowhai’s Détour installation. To show her the wider context of the collaboration, curator Megan Tamati-Quennell took Kate on a tour of the archives and it was there she revealed Frances’ rare textile designs. They were over 90 years old, with pencil grid lines still visible on the gouache painted paper, but Kate knew she could turn them into a finished fabric for her autumn/winter collection.

“It just seems such a waste that they were hidden away under the layers of tissue not being seen by anybody,” says Kate. “I think it's really exciting that Te Papa is open tothese partnerships.”

Kate acquired a licensing agreement to work with four, out of the eight, fading textiles for her Frances story. “And I was thrilled. It was a great use of the collection,” says Megan. “It’s the intersection between fashion and art.”

“It’s the intersection between fashion and art.”

With a career spanning over five decades and several art movements, Frances was a singular and determined artist. Born in Dunedin in 1869, she grew up in an artistic household and set sail for Europe at the age of 32 – never settling down and always searching for her next masterpiece. “She was always moving on and obviously incredibly excited about the new, always,” says Kate. “Oh my gosh, what a thoroughly modern woman!”

Known for her bold use of colour and economy of form, Frances designed textiles for the Calico Printers Association of Manchester for a short time in the mid- 1920s, to satisfy both her love of fashion and her financial needs.

While Te Papa’s unique collection emerged from a British estate, there’s no telling how many other designs are out there due to lost company records. At first, Kate wouldn’t dream of redesigning the archived textile prints, given the preciousness of Frances’ work, but as she got to know the avant-garde artist, it seemed necessary.

She found Frances had a flair for dressing, wearing bright jackets under dark coats with scarves piled on top – an eclectic style that wouldn’t look amiss on the streets and runways today. “I thought with what's happening in fashion at the moment, it was so contemporary,” says Kate. “You know, Frances would have totally changed the prints herself. They would have evolved and changed with the times.... We really felt like we had her approval to play with them and have fun.”

The collection begs the question: ‘What would Frances wear now?’ Kate’s answer is feminine silk dresses, mixed with cheeky check coats, leatherette staples and a number of standalone scarves to be tied around the neck or head like the sitters in Frances’ evocative watercolours.

“Throw as much on as possible. Layer them, layer them all up.”

Kate’s own singular perspective has been imprinted onto the textiles, modernised in invigorating colourways from cyan blue and maroon to rosy pink and gold. The prints are delicately scaled down for feminine dresses, while single elements are blown up for effect on graphic knits and tees. So how should the modern woman wear the new pieces? “I would just love it for them to take their cue from Frances. Be bold with them. Throw as much on as possible. Layer them, layer them all up.”

To bring the independent spirit of Frances to life, Kate asked videographer Veronica Crockford-Pound to model her favourite looks for Fashion Quarterly. A friend of the brand, who first worked for Kate as a model in her teens, Veronica is on an artistic journey of her own making. “She has such a strong sense of self and a strong vision of what she wants to do,” says Kate. “What we want to see is more and more women living their lives like [Frances].”

Happily, the artist’s work is experiencing a revival 150 years after her birth, with a post #MeToo audience seeking out powerful women’s stories. Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys is showing at the Auckland Art Gallery in May; inspiring another formidable woman, Karen Walker, to design a range of Frances-approved accessories.

Kate has found inspiration from art throughout her career, from early 2001 collection ‘The Kiss’ based on Klimt’s painting to the 2007 surrealist show ‘Art Groupie’ and 2016 ‘a Muse’ range. It’s often not the work, or the masters, that attract Kate’s attention but the fascinating women behind them.

Despite her interest, the designer doesn’t see her clothes as fine art – they’re made to be moved in. Megan, however, has other ideas. “As all good artists do, Kate used the textiles as a reference and reimagined them,” she says. “It’s her creative response to these works and I think Frances would have loved it.” ■

For more: Two FQ-ers hit Auckland Art Gallery for a dose of female empowerment on MissFq.co.nz.