Manchester Cotton Board- The Manchester Art Gallery

During my summer when I returned to Manchester, I visited the Manchester Art Gallery to view a textiles exhibition. The exhibition was based on British fashion design using cotton in the 1950’s. Particularly looking at the cotton board based in Manchester.

The cotton board in Manchester was an organization set up in the 1940 to oversee and promote British cotton manufacturing. The best way for them to promote British cotton was to have it used by the fashion industry. Cotton at this time was viewed mainly as a hardwearing and washable fabric, this made it perfect for things such as children’s clothes, work wear, men’s shirts and underwear. The cotton board were trying to secure a place for cotton in the fashion industry. They planned to do this by using it in the evening gown and cocktail dress market. They enlisted the best British fashion designers of the time to create these new high-end dresses using British cotton.

From visiting this exhibition I couldn’t believe that the stunning designs that were created were actually all made from cotton. I didn’t realise the different possible outcomes you can get from cotton. Personally when I previously thought of cotton I also saw it as a hardwearing everyday clothing material. But now after seeing it in this more elegant and sophisticated way I have realised that cotton is a much more versatile fabric than I once thought.

I was particularly interested in the prints on the garments. I was surprised at how well the prints worked with the fabric. Personally if I was printing I would usually use a lighter and more elegant fabric for a dress but after this I now think that I want to be more experimental with the different fabrics and printing techniques that I could use. I find what the fashion designers have created using only the cotton is quite inspiring. Here are some images I have taken of the garments in the exhibition.