Pomp&Pageantry.

Autumn/Winter 2022. The Jeanie&Me HQ, Lanlivery, Cornwall

Well over a year ago, an unassuming brown cardboard box arrived on my doorstep. I recognised the handwriting and knew the contents already, as it had been excitedly rummaged through several weeks ago on the Isle of Lewis with my good friend Christine. The box contains treasure. Jewel coloured, silk velvet treasure. An assortment of shapes and offcuts, some big, some tiny, but all outstandingly beautiful, shot-silk, irridescent, shimmering 2-tone slinky pieces of cloth. Exquisite.

The pieces were remnants from an arts project on the west coast of Scotland, a box full of further potential, re-homed to this grateful recycler. As is sometimes the way of things, the box was excitedly opened, but then closed again, and put up on the shelf.

This September, the nation’s beloved Queen Elizabeth II, passed on. I, like many across the nation felt a huge and somewhat confusing sense of loss and sadness. I put on the Sex Pistols ‘God Save the Queen’ at full blast to shift my sombre mood that day. Going home to watch the funeral with my family and share in the massive ceremony and sense of change, I found the pomp and pageantry of the mourning period comforting and hugely beautiful. The nation’s outpouring of grief and love was a release from what had been yet another unsettling event of this year and when it was all over and life returned to normal, I came away realising how inspiring I had found the whole thing.

An endless array of different uniforms, costumes, banners, helmets, hats and livery. The opportunity to see all of these different aspects of British tradition and ceremony paraded together was strangely thrilling. Feathered helmets, gold embroidered uniforms, plush velvet drapes illuminated by autumn sunlight through stained glass.

It was time to get the box down!

I took the pieces out one by one, a ceremony of my own, not wanting to rush the delight. I pictured palaces and parades in my minds eye. Candelight on crystal glasses, the crunch of a silk slipper in snow, jewels twinkling in firelight. I escaped to my own Precious Palace whilst designing this collection.

The pieces came together beautifully, with different palettes appearing from the box each time I came back to it. I made wonderful discoveries of how light hitting the direction of cloth affects the intensity of colour, and cut and sewed each piece with great care. Even the tiny trimmings brushed to the side of the machine are so lovely. A handful of little trimmed triangles almost too magnificent to put in the bin. I began to make smaller and smaller patchwork, and found new products to honour the smallest pieces.

But this collection demanded more. More opulence, more intricacy. Over the velvets and tiny patchwork I quilted using golden thread. The quilted cushions causing the light to catch the cloth even more wonderfully. And so I find myself hand-sewing in front of the fire in the evenings, a tiny golden bead or sequin into each golden cross section twinkling in the firelight, and I realise that this collection is to be cherished. Items you look forward to discovering again each year and take pleasure from using, like unwrapping your favourite Christmas decorations. Everyday things made extraordinary.

A special collection, honouring these beautiful fabrics and traditional techniques. Sumptuous, delightful and a celebration of a bit of Pomp&Pageantry!