Marian Clayden | |
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Born | 1937
Preston, Lancashire, England |
Died | 15 September 2005
Los Gatos, California |
Education | Nottingham School of Art |
Occupation | Fashion designer |
Marian Clayden (1937-2015) was an artist and fashion designer from Preston, Lancashire. [1] She attended Nottingham School of Art and trained to be a teacher before moving to Australia with her husband Roger and their two children. [2] [3] She began to experiment with textiles in her kitchen and was soon exhibiting and selling her work. [2] In 1967 she moved her family to Los Gatos, California [4] where she collaborated with costumier Bob Mackie. [1] [5] Before starting her own company, Clayden, inc., she worked with two of Cecil Beaton's designers and the McBerman's Costume Company in London. [5] Later she worked with New York based fashion designers Georgio di Sant’Angelo and Mary McFadden. [1]
Clayden's hand dyed fabrics and clothes have been shown in the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. [5] Her clients included Hollywood stars such as Lisa Marie Presley, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver and Catherine Zeta-Jones. [1]
Clayden was born into a family of artists and craftspeople near Preston in the North of England and trained to be an oil painter. [2] Both her grandfathers were silversmiths who died young due to respiratory issues associated with silver work. [6]
She worked as a primary teacher in the UK before moving to Australia with her young family. [1] [2] She was always interested in fashion and began experimenting with dyes and cloth in 1964. [3] She made wall hangings in Australia before moving again to the USA in 1967 and founding her fashion house Clayden, inc. in Los Gatos, California. [5] where she experienced a "spiritual freedom" that enabled her to "create work that combines the present and the past into a continuum". [3] Her first fashion collection was in 1981 [3] though her work was shown internationally since 1970. [3] She said later that there was no specific moment when she became a fashion designer. [3] Her innovative 'toaster prints' introduced in the mid 1980s were created using a sandwich toaster. [7]
In 1987, with her clothing carried by luxury boutiques including Obiko in San Francisco and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Clayden, inc. surpassed $1 million in sales. [8] A year later, in 1988, that had doubled with the company projecting sales of $2 million. [9]
With a long term interest in Japanese textiles her work was included in an exhibition about the American interpretation of the Shibori technique [3] which she also employed designing costumes for the Broadway musical Hair after she was contacted by the set designer Nancy Potts. [10] [5] Most of her clothes design used some form of simplified shibori. [5] Clayden used the South East Asian word “plangi” to describe her tie-dying and dipping technique. [10]
In 1995, a year after suffering a brain aneurysm, Clayden won the Golden Shears Award for Fashion. [5]
Clayden, inc. closed in 2005. [10] Clayden died on 15 September 2015 after a period of illness at the age of 78. [10]
Marian Clayden | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | 1937
Preston, Lancashire, England |
Died | 15 September 2005
Los Gatos, California |
Education | Nottingham School of Art |
Occupation | Fashion designer |
Marian Clayden (1937-2015) was an artist and fashion designer from Preston, Lancashire. [1] She attended Nottingham School of Art and trained to be a teacher before moving to Australia with her husband Roger and their two children. [2] [3] She began to experiment with textiles in her kitchen and was soon exhibiting and selling her work. [2] In 1967 she moved her family to Los Gatos, California [4] where she collaborated with costumier Bob Mackie. [1] [5] Before starting her own company, Clayden, inc., she worked with two of Cecil Beaton's designers and the McBerman's Costume Company in London. [5] Later she worked with New York based fashion designers Georgio di Sant’Angelo and Mary McFadden. [1]
Clayden's hand dyed fabrics and clothes have been shown in the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. [5] Her clients included Hollywood stars such as Lisa Marie Presley, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver and Catherine Zeta-Jones. [1]
Clayden was born into a family of artists and craftspeople near Preston in the North of England and trained to be an oil painter. [2] Both her grandfathers were silversmiths who died young due to respiratory issues associated with silver work. [6]
She worked as a primary teacher in the UK before moving to Australia with her young family. [1] [2] She was always interested in fashion and began experimenting with dyes and cloth in 1964. [3] She made wall hangings in Australia before moving again to the USA in 1967 and founding her fashion house Clayden, inc. in Los Gatos, California. [5] where she experienced a "spiritual freedom" that enabled her to "create work that combines the present and the past into a continuum". [3] Her first fashion collection was in 1981 [3] though her work was shown internationally since 1970. [3] She said later that there was no specific moment when she became a fashion designer. [3] Her innovative 'toaster prints' introduced in the mid 1980s were created using a sandwich toaster. [7]
In 1987, with her clothing carried by luxury boutiques including Obiko in San Francisco and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Clayden, inc. surpassed $1 million in sales. [8] A year later, in 1988, that had doubled with the company projecting sales of $2 million. [9]
With a long term interest in Japanese textiles her work was included in an exhibition about the American interpretation of the Shibori technique [3] which she also employed designing costumes for the Broadway musical Hair after she was contacted by the set designer Nancy Potts. [10] [5] Most of her clothes design used some form of simplified shibori. [5] Clayden used the South East Asian word “plangi” to describe her tie-dying and dipping technique. [10]
In 1995, a year after suffering a brain aneurysm, Clayden won the Golden Shears Award for Fashion. [5]
Clayden, inc. closed in 2005. [10] Clayden died on 15 September 2015 after a period of illness at the age of 78. [10]