> MOVIE
Last Updated Wednesday, 25 June, 2008
Filmed by Nick Knight and with a soundtrack of Professor Helen Storey intoning scientific formulae as fitting backdrop, this filmic finale to the 'Wonderland' project documents the aquatic aerobics of Helen's collection in the last stage of its life. With the clothes literally peeling from her body as the remarkable biodegradable polymers react against their submerged state, watch as model Alice Dellal twists and turns through her underwater ballet and Helen's creations ultimately surrender to their watery grave.
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> ARTIST PROFILE: HELEN STOREY
Last Updated 22nd March 2008
View a selection of existing films from Wonderland: two shorts by filmmaker Pinny Grylls that document the project's progress to this point and an interview conducted in 2007 with Storey and Professor Tony Ryan, Storey's collaborator at the University of Sheffield. Also included are films relating to Storey's three previous art/science projects, Eye and I (2005/6), Mental (2001) and Primitive Streak (1997), as well as rare footage of Storey's Autumn/Winter 1991 'Present Times' catwalk show and a TV interview discussing this award-winning collection.
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> Articles
Read a selection of previous interviews texts on Helen’s
fashion and science work.
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Last Updated Monday, 28 January, 2008
Watch the creation of a time-lapse video before your very eyes! As soon as Helen Storey's 'dissolving dress' is installed at the LCF, nine cameras positioned around it will begin capturing a still every 7 minutes. These stills will cycle continually throughout Storey's residency at the gallery until on 29th February, we should have a film of 1 minute 17 seconds in length, documenting the dress's gradual destruction. Stay tuned to watch an automatic edit in progress!
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> Project Description
Last Updated Monday, 26 May, 2008
A product of a groundbreaking collaboration between the artist and fashion designer Helen Storey and the scientist Tony Ryan, 'Wonderland' uses fashion as a 'trojan horse' to progress a radical, two-year exploration into biodegradable materials. From 29 January—29 February 2008, the great fashion innovator of the 1980s and 90s Helen Storey will resume her fashion career -abandoned in 1995 in favour of pioneering science installations- live, in front of a public audience. During a month-long residency at London College of Fashion's 'Fashion Space Gallery', Storey will construct her first collection in twelve years: a sequence of six dresses chemically fabricated specifically to 'disappear', over time in water. Whilst these dresses will later be installed in the project's second venue, in Sheffield this summer, Storey will be dissolving a pre-made garment throughout the London residency to demonstrate the miraculous plastics that Storey and Ryan have created.
SHOWstudio will be present at all stages of the project, documenting Storey and Ryan's research via a video phone Blog that Storey will conduct throughout, as well as webcasting the residency and its spectacular deconstruction. The collections produced in London will be photographed at a live shoot in Spring and there are also plans for Nick Knight to create a special film showcasing its garments in the process of deconstruction. To start the project on SHOWstudio, there will be additional historical profiles on Storey as well as libraries of existing film documentation of her work in the fields of fashion design, science and art.
Though offering no definitive solution to the current crisis in 'fast', disposable, fashion, Wonderland aims to open up debate, which we hope the SHOWstudio audience will enter into via Blog responses and the FORUM as the collaboration progresses.
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If you weren't glued to your screen for our live shoot in March, here's your chance to relive the wonder of 'Wonderland'. Model Alice Dellal, biodegradable polymers and several tons of H2O take centre stage as Professor Helen Storey's creations get their first (and last) outing, under the watchful lens of Nick Knight. The resulting film, documenting the 'underwater fireworks' of Helen's once-in-a-lifetime collection is now available to view as fitting memorial to this remarkable project.
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> Contributor Biographies
Helen Storey
Professor Helen Storey is an artist, designer and scientist living and working in London. She graduated in Fashion from Kingston Polytechnic in 1981, then worked with Valentino and Lancetti in Rome. She returned... [More...]
Pinny Grylls
Pinny Grylls is a filmmaker born and based in London. After studying Anthropology and Archaeology at Oxford University, she and Rachel Millward co-founded the ‘Birds’ Eye View’ film festival showcasing the work by... [More...]
Tony Ryan
Tony Ryan is the ICI Professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of the Polymer Centre at the University of Sheffield. He was born and schooled in Leeds and undertook his degree studies at... [More...]
Patricia Belford
Patricia Belford is a Textile Designer working in Northern Ireland. She studied at North East London Polytechnic and in 1986 established Belford Prints, a small unique Textile business concentrating on the development of... [More...]
> Credits
Last Updated Wednesday, 9 January, 2008
Concept: Helen Storey and Tony Ryan
Creative and Editorial Direction: Ross Phillips and Penny Martin
Design and Art Direction: Paul Bruty
Technical Development: Dorian Moore
Editorial Assistant: Alexander Fury
HSF Development Director: Caroline Coates
Textile team at The University of Ulster:
Interface
Declan McGonagle, Director of Interface
Emma McClintock
Donna Campbell
Duncan Neil
Aoife Ludlow
Dr. Andy Crangle
Patricia Belford
Karen Fleming
Kerstin Mey
Science Team at The University of Sheffield:
Professor Richard Jones
Dr Colin Crook
Dr Malcolm Butler
Shelagh Cowley
Richard Wilkinson ( technical)
Jim Goulding (SUEL)
David Catton
Helen’s creative/collection team in the gallery:
Studio director: Helen Bailey
Couturier 1: Leslyanne Snawdon
Couturier 2: Emma Mc Clintok
Special thanks to :
Malcom Garrett, Susan Ibreck, Claire De Braekeleer, Pinny Grylls, and Dr Frances Corner, Head of College, The London College of Fashion and all LCF supporting staff.
Wonderland is a project managed by the Helen Storey Foundation, a not for profit organisation, made possible through support and partnership. For a full list of partners and supporters please see
www.helenstoreyfoundation.org/news.htm