IT'S NOT JUST A HOBBY


Saturday, June 2, 2012

Great Britain - Great Britain Fashion 2012

Models of perfection:
The Mint Stamps come to you in pristine condition and feature original outfits from our ten chosen design houses, beautifully shot by acclaimed fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø

Fashion Stamps:
Hardy Amies © Hardy Amies. No. 14 Savile Row;
Norman Hartnell © Norman
Granny Takes a Trip © Granny Takes a Trip, 1967;
Ossie Clark (print by Celia Birtwell) © Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell;
Tommy Nutter © Nutters of Savile Row;
Jean Muir © Harry Leuckert;
Elizabethan Collection Autumn/Winter 1981 by Zandra Rhodes © Zandra Rhodes;
Vivienne Westwood © Vivienne Westwood;
Paul Smith © Paul Smith;
‘Black Raven’ from the Alexander McQueen Horn of Plenty Autumn/ Winter 2009 collection courtesy of Alexander McQueen..

From Linn's Stamp News (By Jay Bigalke):
Ten of Britain's most powerful post-war fashion designers will be honored by Royal Mail (the British Post Office) on stamps to be issued May 15, 2012.

The 10 Great British Fashion stamps showcase fashions created by Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Granny Takes a Trip, Ossie Clark, Tommy Nutter, Jean Muir, Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and Alexander McQueen.

All the stamps are nondenominated with a "1st" inscription indicating that they pay the basic first-class domestic rate, currently 60 pence.

The stamps were designed by Johnson Banks using photographs taken by Solve Sundsbo. One representative work of each designer was used.  Some of the notable works include the suit created by Nutter for Ringo Starr of the Beatles.

Senior curator of fashion at London's Victoria and Albert Museum Claire Wilcox assisted in the selection of the fashion houses to be represented on the stamps.

The Great British Fashion set stemmed from the earlier 2009 British Design Classics stamp showing Mary Quant's mini skirt, according to Royal Mail.

Amies is most known for his works created for Queen Elizabeth II.  IN 1955, he was named the official dressmaker for the queen.  He also made the costumes for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The stamp shows a woman's outfit from the late 1940s.

Hartnell is noted as the dressmaker of the queen's wedding and coronation dresses.  He also created costumes for many films, icluding Katharine Hepburn's wardrobe in the 1959 film Suddenly, Last Summer.  A 1950s era design was used for the stamp.

The boutique Granny Takes a Trip was started in the 1960s by Nigel Waymouth, Sheila Cohen and John Pearse.  Later, Freddie Hornik purchased the shop that operated into the mid-1970s.
The stamp shows a jacket designed by Pearse that uses a Morris & Co. furniture fabric print, Golden Lili, of 1899.  Morris & Co. was honored with British stamps issued May 5, 2011.

Clark's designs were popular in the 1960s and 1970s.  His talent as a designer was noted by the British Vogue magazine in 1965.  The outfit on the stamp uses a print by his wife, Celia Birtwell.

Fashion tailor Nutter recreated the Savile Row suit in the 1960s.  His works include the previously mentioned suit for Starr.  Three of his suits also were worn by the Beatles on the Abbey Road album cover that was pictured on a British stamp in 2007.  Elton John and Mick Jagger were among his other clients.

Dressmaker Muir started as a designer in the 1950s.  In the 1960s, she launched her own label, known for creating timeless feminine clothing that was ready to wear and focused on attention to detail.  An outfit from the late 1970s or early 1980s is shown on the stamp.

One of London's new wave of designers in the 1970s, Rhodes pushed the boundaries of traditional fashion with her dramatic works.  She has designed for Diana, Princess of Wales, and other celebrities, including Freddie Mercury of the band Queen.  The stamp shows a gold dress of the early 1980s from Rhodes' personal collection.

Westwood, known for her punk fashion designs, began designing clothing in the 1970's.  Members of the band the Sex Pistols wore her designs.  The stamp shows a 1993 Harlequin dress that was modeled by Naomi Campbell.

Smith showed his first menswear collection in 1976 in Paris under his own label, and introduced a collection for women in 1993.  He puts a twist on classic designs through the use of loud colors, bright stripes and sharp tailoring.  The stamp shows a men's suit from 2003.

McQueen worked as chief designer at Givency from 1996 to 2001, when he founded his own label.  Eric Wilson and Cathy Horyn wrote in McQueen's obituary in the February 11, 2010, New York Times: "Mr. McQueen often showed a dark streak in his collections, commenting on brutality toward women and what he saw as the inanity of the fashion world, and it carried over into his personal life.
Black Raven, from his 2009 Horn of Plenty collection, is illustrated on the stamp.

Cartor Security Printing of Meauce, France, printed the stamps by offset in sheets of 50 (sold as panes of 25 in most postal outlets).  Each sheet includes five different designs se-tenant (side by side).

The stamps are square, measuring 35 millimeters by 37mm, and perforated gauge 14.5 by 14.