Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection Project
British designer Zandra Rhodes' archive to be digitised
The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has been awarded funding from JISC to digitise the archive of celebrated British designer Zandra Rhodes CBE.
Researchers at UCA will spend 15 months working closely with Zandra Rhodes, who trained at one of UCA's founder colleges, the Medway College of Design. The dedicated team will sort through over 2,500 of her fashion creations spanning five decades to select 500 for photographing and cataloguing.
Zandra Rhodes, who was made UCA's first Chancellor in 2010, has played a significant role in the development of British fashion, helping establish its reputation on the world stage.
The project pilots the Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection and an accompanying Open Education Resource. Zandra Rhodes is amongst the most famous and recognisable names in British fashion over the last fifty years. Her work includes the design of haute couture dresses for clients as diverse as Elizabeth Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Diana, Princess of Wales, to the more recent work for Anne, Princess Royal, Helen Mirren, and costume design for opera. She has played a key role in establishing the UK as a leader in both the global fashion industry and in fashion education.
The Digital Study Collection will provide unique open online access to images of 500 of the designer's most iconic and landmark costumes. These are selected out of a total of over 2,500 garments by Zandra Rhodes and will cover her entire creative career from the 1960s to the present day. From this substantial collection of intriguing and innovative fashion designs 25 key works will be chosen to build an Open Educational Resource with the aim of embedding it in teaching and learning. These captivating digital images will be enriched by primary and secondary source material in digital format and will illuminate the specific commission process, design brief, technical aspects, material and production innovation, occasions of wear, media exposures and critical reviews as relevant.
The authenticity of the Digital Study Collection and the Open Education Resource is safeguarded by a close collaboration with the fashion designer and her team. This unique database will be hosted by VADS, the Visual Arts Data Service, at the University for the Creative Arts. It brings together a total of approximately 13,000 textile and fashion-related items from different periods of time, which have been digitised for use in learning, teaching, and research (out of over 130,000 images on behalf of 300 collection holders). The Open Learning Resource will be launched on JORUM. Both resources will promote educational and research opportunities for emergent and future generation of fashion and textile designers. They will open up free global access to this invaluable cultural repository and fashion heritage.
Zandra said, "I am thrilled that this project is happening and students will be able to appreciate my work."
Professor Kerstin Mey, Director of Research and Enterprise at UCA, said, "We are delighted to be working with Zandra on this exciting project. This digital archive will track a vital dimension of the evolution of British fashion and capture some of its landmark moments.
"It will provide inspiration and learning for new and emerging generations of professional fashion designers, but will also complement research on the overarching cultural situation and zeitgeist of the later 20th Century and early 21st Century."
This project is funded by JISC as part of its Content programme 2011-2013. Paola Marchionni JISC's digitisation manager says, "JISC is pleased to support collaboration between the higher education sector and private archives such as Zandra Rhodes' fashion collection. These partnerships are vital to open up access to resources which wouldn't otherwise be available, not only for the benefit of students and researchers in the UK but for the enjoyment and use of the public at large as Open Educational Resources."
