dear diary ~ back in time for 70’s fashion student

I promised you some interesting news and this is something that took me quite by surprise back in early April when one of my blog readers, who happens to be the curator of a museum in Cheltenham, contacted me through the comments section on my blog.

“I love your blog, especially the pages about you being a student in Cheltenham in the 1970s. I am the Curator at the Holst Victorian House in Cheltenham http://www.holstvictorianhouse.org.uk and this summer we are planning a pop up 1970s bedroom as part of our exploration of the house before it was a museum. We want the bedroom to belong to a 1970s fashion student! We would love for you to be involved if possible, for example sharing your memories of your time at the college and advising us about the type of room you had. If you are interested, please get in touch with me at curator@holstvictorianhouse.org.uk.

Many readers who have been following both this blog and my previous one might remember I have mentioned before that I was a student in the 70’s at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design on the Fashion and Textile degree course and have talked briefly about my life during those few years in Cheltenham.  It was a very memorable time for me and packed with fun and hard work in equal quantities.

Intrigued, I replied to the comment and during these past few months I supplied the curator with a few key items for use in their room set display as well as providing a narrative about the life of a fashion student, which must be so different to the experience of today’s students, especially their super deluxe living accommodation.

The pop up exhibition at the museum centres around a fashion student’s bedroom as the owners of the house at that time rented out rooms to fashion students from the college and they have tried to emulate this as well as they can with items they already have in the museum and additional pieces they have sourced from the same period. I wasn’t actually one of the students living at this particular house, nor do I know anyone who did, but it was very similar to the first house I lived in on Prestbury Road.

The photo below is actually of my real life student bedroom in the early 70’s… taken on my 21st birthday at our little house in Grosvenor Terrace – note the mattress on the floor, quite common back in those days and more comfortable than the old fashioned bed springs on some of the beds supplied by landlords. Most accomodation came furnished with some quite old and battered furniture – some with the addition of woodworm! As you will notice there is quite an assortment of tastes – the Indian cotton print bedcover behind me from the Black Market, purple sheets from Woolworths beneath a bright green checked duvet from the Co-op.

Our living room was of the brown and cream era which was the equivalent of the grey period we are presently living through. We stuck thick chocolate brown cork tiles to the chimney breast to display my grandma’s flying ducks. I was much more into old junk shop finds at the time, and influenced by BIBA and Laura Ashley with a bit of modern Habitat thrown in. We all had to endure a tiled fireplace of one kind or another and a cut moquette settee, and I won’t even mention the quality of the carpets (usually threadbare and with a dark stained floorboard surround) so the whole appearance was rather drab on drab.

Looking for pictures and information to send to the curator brought back such a lot of memories. I can’t believe I only spent 3 years of my life there – it seemed far longer and I made some life long friends too.

A very young me on the bike with my friends – as you can see beards were very much in fashion too back then.

When I look back at some of the outfits I made they do seem quite crude and not anywhere near the more outlandish designs produced by students today, but they were more wearable and the whole course was geared up to us getting a job at the end of it as jobs in the fashion world were not easy to come by. I know a lot of people watch and enjoy the Great British Sewing Bee – I only watched it for the first time a couple of weeks ago as I switched over from another program that had finished and I can vouch for the effort that these people have put into making each garment.

So I thought I would show you a few pictures from my time on a fashion course in the 70’s but promise not to laugh!!

This is me in the picture above – I am modelling one of my very first dresses at the end of the first year. It was hand printed on an ivory silk. I was quite proud I had even got to the end of the first year – the drop out rate was very high. 46 started on the course and only 13 of us finished.

Me again, caught in the corridor modelling another students outfit in the third year with much shorter hair and much higher platform shoes!

And below I think this was our second year final show – I always got roped into modelling no matter how much I objected.

We often undertook projects set by fabric manufacturers to advertise their new ranges.

This design above using a new Crimplene fabric was made into a garment and I was lucky enough to get my design chosen for a mention in the Fashion Weekly magazine.

Our final show in the third year was in London with professional models and many top fashion names were invited to view.

My collection was based on luxury resort or cruise wear – some made with hand printed fabrics. The collection included a swimming costume in a relatively new stretchy fabric called Lycra – now a staple in our wardrobes in one form or another.

This was a picture in the press and 2 of my garments were chosen, centre and far right.

The exhibition which includes the 70’s fashion student’s bedroom at Holst Victorian House in Cheltenham will run until Wednesday 31^st December.  If you live anywhere locally do go and see it.

I am especially excited to be going down myself to see the exhibition next week and spend four days in Cheltenham where DH and I can relive some very happy memories.  Sadly, the house in the photo with me on the bike at Grosvenor Terrace has been pulled down and is now part of the LIDL carpark and the wonderful sixties fashion block at the college in the lefthand photo at the top of this page has also been replaced by a more modern building.  I am sure though it won’t detract from the visit; the Promenade, Everyman Theatre, Pittville park and Pump rooms and Montpellier remain the highlights of the Cheltenham I remember.

Back soon x