Richard Shops Blue Lace Dress

A highly detailed, life-size ink drawing on paper of a 1970's blue lace evening dress from the high street chain Richard Shops. When researching the use of machine-made lace in C20th fashion in the archives at National Trust Killerton House I was fascinated to discover this blue lace dress; intrigued by the sheer complexity of the construction of the fabric I was also overwhelmed with fond memories of visiting Richard Shops as a child. I spent just over two years recreating the dress in the form of this life-size drawing; a consciously slow, meticulous and low-tech process which pays homage to the unsung labour of its original creators, and highlights the loss of craft skills such as lace-making in our increasingly mechanised and digital world.