INDUSTRIAL BRITAIN Lauren Bell
Exploring what Britain was, what it is and what it could be again...
Fashion Futures DE1136
Coal Mining
INDUSTRIAL BRITAIN
Steel Works Ship Building Clothes Manufacturing Iron works
Sustainablility Industry Trade
THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF BRITISH MANUFACTURING
Function
STEEL WORKS
SHIP BUILDING
COAL MINING
Heavy Industry Manual Labour Health & Safety
THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN HERITAGE CULTURE SOCIETY OPINION PAST
PRESENT FUTURE
THEN
EASINGTON North East England
NOW
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?
How a generation was affected? What was happening then? What would modern day be like if certain things in society hadn't changed? What would northern England be like if the mines never closed? How industry closure has affected British society? How has this affected fashion?
“It pitched striking miners against the police, family members and communities against each other and even saw Britain's security services and foreign governments, including Libya and the Soviet Union, dragged into the controversy. It also confirmed Mrs Thatcher's status as an unrivalled hate figure for British trade unionists and left-wingers.” http://news.sky.com/story/1075351/miners-strike-margaret-thatchers-triumph
“With other tactics, the miners might have won, or been able to manage their industry's decline more humanely; if that had happened, there might be a bright future for British coal today. But the great lesson of the strike was that the industrial class war as fought by Mr Scargill was over. The miners were on their own in a Britain that found it could get along without either coal or communities - and increasingly without unions too. In the end it was arguably more necessary for the government to prevail over the NUM than the reverse. But it was a war no one deserved to win and there was nothing just in Mrs Thatcher's victory. The wound has not yet been healed. There was no cause for celebration either then or now.” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/mar/07/1984-miners-strike
HOW THE MINERS STRIKE OF 1984-85 CHANGED BRITAIN
“Much of Margaret Thatcher’s new neoliberal settlement, replacing the old social-democratic one, survived and indeed helped to shape New Labour. As she saw it, the defeat of the miners’ strike of 1984-85 cut the brake on the application of largely unrestrained market forces, not only in energy but in the wider ordering of society. At a time, post-2008 crash, when it is no longer so taboo to question the efficacy of unregulated markets, that is something to mourn.” http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/06/how-miners-strike-1984-85-changed-britain-ever
From the mid-1970s the (now loss-making) British Steel pursued a strategy of concentrating steelmaking in five areas: South Wales, South Yorkshire, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland. This policy continued following the Conservative victory in the 1979 general election. Other traditional steelmaking areas faced cutbacks. Under the Labour government of James Callaghan, a review by Lord Beswick had led to the reprieve of the so-called 'Beswick plants', for social reasons, but subsequent governments were obliged under EU rules to withdraw subsidies. Major changes resulted across Europe, including in the UK: At Consett the closure of the British Steel works in 1980 marked the end of steel production in the Derwent Valley and the sharp decline of the area. At Corby, the closure of the former Stewarts & Lloyds site in the early 1980s saw the loss of 11,000 jobs, leading to an initial unemployment rate of over 30%. In Wales, works at East Moors (Cardiff), Ebbw Vale and Shotton were closed. In Scotland, Western Europe's largest hot strip steel mill Ravenscraig steelworks, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, was closed by British Steel in 1992, leading to huge unemployment in the area. It also led to the closure of several local support and satellite businesses, such as the nearby British Steel Clydesdale Works in Mossend, Clyde Alloy in Netherton and equipment maker Anderson Strathclyde. Demolition of the site's landmark blue gasometer in 1996, and the subsequent cleanup operation, has created the largest brownfield site in Europe. This huge area between Motherwell and Wishaw is in line to be transformed into the new town of Ravenscraig, a project partly funded by Corus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Steel
PRIVATISATION OF BRITISH STEEL The Slow Death of British Industry: a 60-Year Suicide, 1952-2012
“In the early 1950s, Britain was an industrial giant. Today, it is an industrial pygmy. Manufacturing was industry’s bedrock. In 1952, it produced a third of the national output, employed 40 per cent of the workforce and made up a quarter of world manufacturing exports. Today, manufacturing in this country accounts for just 11 per cent of GDP, employs only 8 per cent of the workforce and sells 2 per cent of the world’s manufacturing exports. The iconic names of industrial Britain are history; in their place are the service economy and supermarkets selling mainly imported goods. What happened? Was it inevitable? Does it matter?” http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/culture/2013/01/meeting-our-makers-britain’s-long-industrial-decline
WHAT IF IT ALL CAME BACK?
Manufacturing contributes £6.7tr to the global economy. Contrary to common belief, UK manufacturing is strong with the UK currently the 11th largest manufacturing nation in the world. Manufacturing makes up 11% of UK GVA and 54% of UK exports and directly employs 2.6 million people.
WALLSEND
North East England
SHIP BUILDING
STEEL WORKS
INSPIRATION NOW
“The philosophy of Nigel Cabourn Authentic is founded on a love of ‘Real Products’ and in the pursuit of quality. Designs are inspired by vintage military, outdoor, sports and work wear pieces from Nigel’s personal archive, and the collections are driven by inspirational stories of real people in history. Nigel Cabourn Authentic products are manufactured in Great Britain to the highest standards using fabric and trims that are hand selected and exclusively developed. This artisan and craftsman approach ensures that each product is authentic, exclusive and original and manufactured with integrity.” http://www.cabourn.com/lookbook
FASHION & SOCIETY
No Such Thing as Society: photography in Britain 1967-87: from the British Council and the Arts Council Collection Mellor, David; British Council. Arts Division; Arts Council England
Workwear: work, fashion, seduction Published Venezia : Marsilio 2009
EASINGTON
COAL MINING
Industrial Action A/W 16/17 Workwear Inspired Collection
When Britain boomed with industry, manufacturing and manual labour, it was a country filled with communities, spirit and loyalty. Over the years the landscape of British manufacturing changed with work shifting towards other industries due to the closure of most manufacturing in the UK. Industrial action is about re-imagining the British landscape what there was and what there is now. The changes in society, the difference in culture and the influence the rich heritage that Britain had on art and fashion. The landscape was dark and dusty, with speckles of colour beaming through. Industries like Coal Mining, Ship building and Steel works held a strong image throughout Britain and with all these industries dwindling away throughout the years this has lead to changes in Britain now, such as how we function, how society is, what we import, export and what we bring to the global economy‌ But, imagine what if all this industry came back, if Britain became more sustainable like it was? What would happen to the economy and unemployment? How would the British landscape change and what influence would all of this have on culture, art, society, fashion and design? Industrial Action is a look into the past becoming the future, what Britain was and what if it was like this again. Would anything change? This collection is heavily influenced by industrial workwear, the 1970s which was one of the last decades to see the industrial manufacturing and the textures, colour and prints thats have been inspired by these manufacturing industries.
Industrial Action
MOODBOARD
The inspiration of the collection comes from the uniforms of the industrial work wear, mood imagery and photography from abandoned industrial sites, 1970s mens and womenswear as well as current industrail inspired clothing using rustic and denim fabrics Contempory and vinatge industrail wear..
Industrial Action
Bunker Brown
Calk Pink
Athwart Purple
Royal Navy
Seaweed
Cross Tree
Stone
Ramble
Metal Stone
Black Stone
The muted tones of both colour stories signify the mood and rustic heritage of the collection. With a hint of bright accents the collections colour palette and textured fabrics Colour Story 1 is inspired by the ship building docks and the murky sea water. Colour Story 2 is take from the pit shats from the coal mines with erosion and rusty tones.
Colour Story 1 Coal
Goaf Brown
Colour Story 2
COLOUR PALETTE
Industrial Action
SILHOUETTE
The silhouette of the collection is inspired by industrial work wear and clothing from the 1970s. The oversized, long length clothing creates a warm a n d c o m fo r t a b l e collection. Using developed prints, knitwear over denim the masculine silhouette is fashionsable and functional. With chunky knitwear, pastel dungarees and bell bottom jeans.
Industrial Action
Industrial Action
Module Evaluation When I was made aware of the brief for the fashion futures module and after learning about the projects we had the opportunity to participate in, I decided to choose the “Dementia Friendly Design in Housing� as the task interested me at the prospect of creating interiors, print and something away from fashion. When the project started we were paired up with a group from DFI, I was looking forward to collaborating with another course and being able to understand how other courses and designers work. I was very fortunate about the group I was put into as we worked really well together and ideas were generated quite quickly. I was really happy with the final concept we came up with as it was allowing all of us to work on an idea we were interested in. It was great to learn more about Dementia and be made aware of the creating a safe environment for people with Dementia. The only issues I had with this project was learning to work with designers who do not work the same as myself, but I am still open-minded into new ways of working. At first I found it difficult to go from one project to another and come up with a topic I was interested in. The first idea I came up with I was not enjoying nor did I feel I would get anything out of it. That is when I came up with looking into Industrial Britain, something that is part of my heritage and the area I was from. I really enjoyed researching this topic and the development work that followed from this in the print and colours. To further this project on I would like to explore and develop these initial ideas further and create a more conceptual idea.