Flower Market and Fashion and Textile Museum

Sunday April 1 was cloudy with a high of only 8C.  However, there was no rain during the day.  We started our day by walking to the Sunday Columbia Street Flower Market, about a 10 minute walk from our flat. It was a great scene-- tons of people buying plants and flowers and lots of little cafés and bakeries lining the sides of the market area.  The street is blocked off for the weekly market.

Wonderful row housing near the Flower Market

Another view

Great plants

It is busy-- walking up to the market, we saw lots of people carrying flowers

Great selection

English lavender

Orchid guy

We liked the vendors shouting:  "Three for a tenner".

There was live music too

We stopped for a coffee at Start Coffee- another busy place with a line for take out.  We decided to have a coffee inside.

Start Coffee beside the flower market

We then walked down to Brick Lane to check out the Sunday scene there.  We stopped for a photo at the Black Cab Coffee Co. where a guy made espresso drinks from his cab.

Alain checking out The Black Cab Coffee Co

We continued to a huge hall, home of the Brick Lane Food Hall.  Tons of vendors selling foods from all over the world.  Very busy.

Busy Brick Lane Food Hall

We caught the bus to London Bridge, which is very close to the Shard- the 95-story skyscraper designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano.  It opened in 2013.

The Shard is impressive

Our destination was the Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street.  The museum was founded by iconic British designer Zandra Rhodes in 2003 and is owned by Newham College London.  The museum does not have a permanent exhibit, but has large temporary exhibits showcasing developments in contemporary fashion.  We had heard about the present exhibit:  T-Shirt: Cult, Culture, Subversion.

Poster and entrance to the exhibit

Very large T-shirt outside the entrance- Rotten (mono) 2015 -John Dove and Molly White--
based on the T done of Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols in 1976

Katherine Hamnett's first slogan T-shirt was designed in 1984.  91% Don't Want War T-shirt dates from 2003.  She also had T's with Stop War Blair Out.    In 1984, Hamnett famously greeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at a London Fashion Week event wearing her "58% Don't Want Pershing" T-shirt, referring to public opposition to the relocation of US missiles.

2003

The exhibit noted that it is not a history of the T-shirt.  The focus was rather on selected milestones in the life of the T-shirt.  The first room had a series of hangers with key dates in the life of the T-shirt.

First use of word "T-shirt" in This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I love NY T-shirt

Reference in timeline to 2017- "We should all be Feminists" T-shirt by first female designer to head Dior.

The exhibit featured about 200 T-shirts from the worlds of fashion, music and politics and the intersection of the three.  It featured a series of different typologies including: University Athletics (in 1933 in order to prevent theft, the University of Southern California introduced athletic T-shirts proclaiming "Property of USC"); Promotional T-shirts (the ones advertising the Wizard of Oz film in 1939 are said to be the first); Souvenir and Novelty T-shirts (like Mickey Mouse T-shirts: and Campaign T-shirts (political and activist Ts).  The exhibit also looked at T-shirt embellishment techniques.

The exhibit grouped T-shirts under headings such as Agitprop; Collecting (there was one section with a number of Ts from one man's three decade old collection of Vivienne Westwood Ts); Personal/Political; Unisex; Ethics and Ecology; Pop Goes the T-shirt; Art to Wear; This is Not a T-shirt; Fashion Statement and Last Word.  The focus was on the T-shirt as a communication tool.

The Mickey Mouse shirt (below) with the anti-American sentiment designed by John Dove and Molly White in 1976 used Mickey Mouse as a symbol of 'the American dream turned rotten'.  The Disney character was juxtaposed with appropriated images from the Atomic Energy Commission.  The T-shirt came to the attention of Disney Corporation.  Disney forced the designers to stop selling the T-shirt on the grounds that it "was anti-American and not in the spirit of how Disney wished to portray their comic hero."

Atomic- John Dove and Molly White 1976

After Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962, Andy Warhol made more than 20 silk-screened images of her, all based on a publicity photograph from the 1953 film Niagara.

Marilyn T-shirt (after Andy Warhol) Redbubble 2017

There were a number of Band T-shirts on display.

The Dutch graphic design studio, Experimental Jetset, created the design of the yellow T-shirt below, reinventing the band T-shirt as an ode to typographical minimalism while also paying homage to one of the world's most famous bands.  Experimental Jetset also made similar shirts for the Rolling Stones and the Ramones.  The format has inspired countless unofficial versions.

The black T reads John & Paul & George Fuck Brexit - Jeremy Deller, Studio Voltaire 2017
Yellow T-- Beatles T-shirt, Experimental Jetset 2001 

Rolling Stones iconic Ts 

Katherine Hamnett was one of the first designers to take on political causes.  Save the Bees and Sack Paterson (2013) refers to calls to fire then British environment minister Owen Paterson who voted against banning neonicotinoid pesticides known to reduce bee populations.  Hamnett wore this T to a protest march held outside Parliament in 2013.  Paterson was replaced in 2014.

Katherine Hamnett's political and environmental Ts

Vivienne Westwood Red Label - Spring/Summer 2013 Climate Revolution Archivist

In 2013, the then Creative Director of Yves Saint Laurent decided to drop the Yves from the brand's name, sparing controversy.  A parody T-shirt was produced by Jeanine Hellier.  YSL filed and settled a lawsuit against her company What About Yves.

by What About Yves 2013

Beth Postle 2017-- reference to art historical traditions- demonstrating different techniques

"We Should All be Feminists" was one of the most-talked about designs from Maria Grazia Chiuri's first collection for Dior.  It was inspired by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's essay and Tedx talk of the same name.  Proceeds from the sale were donated to a non-profit organization.

Dior 2017

T-shirt from Guerrilla Girls

More political Ts

Choose Love-- a recent Katherine Hamnett T-shirt

Alain happens to have a picture on his desktop that I took of him in a Katherine Hamnett sweatshirt that I bought a number of years ago.

Alain in a Katherine Hamnett sweatshirt- You on one side and Me on the other.

View from second floor of exhibit

After the T-shirt exhibit, we walked a bit further on Bermondsey Street, which had a number of lovely bakeries, restaurants and coffee shops.   We couldn't resist going into the buzzy Fuckoffee.  We had some soup and hung out for a while.

Fuckoffee

Great atmosphere at Fuckoffee

Photo of Margaret Thatcher in the bathroom!!!

We decided to have a coffee at Chapter 72, just a few doors down from Fuckoffee.  This café sells both coffee and drinks, often with a coffee base.

Outside of Chapter 72

Coffee list-love Fake News Flat White and Netflix + Chill

Making our coffees

Ground, Shaken, Stirred on back of T-shirts

I took two photos of The Shard before we headed back to the flat on the bus.

Approaching the Shard

The other side of the Shard

We headed out to dinner at Albion, a nearby all-day British cafe, bar & grocery that has been open for about 10 years.  Very good chicken and leek pie for Alain, fish and chips for me and a green salad.

Very nice atmosphere at the Albion

My fish and chips-- very light batter

Alain about to tuck into his chicken and leek pie

Since we were only about five minutes from our flat, we were able to get back in time to tune into Sirius radio and hear Justin Smoak hit a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth and win the ball game.  Go Jays Go!!!