Zandra and Head of the Zandra Rhodes Foundation, Piers Atkinson talked to Mark C O’Flaherty at The Financial Times about fashion history, archiving and what’s next in store for Zandra’s legacy..
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When you’re given six months to live, you get things done. In 2020 British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes was told by her doctor that she faced terminal cancer. She kept the news from all but her closest circle — “I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t work!” — while also putting her affairs in order. For Rhodes, who launched her fashion career in the late 1960s and is an indisputable national treasure, this involved making plans for 6,000 garments from decades of runway shows. Five years on, in remission and with an energy that would be remarkable for any 84-year-old, she has established a foundation to preserve her legacy and catalogued the bulk of those garments. And on June 17, 92 lots, including a chiffon dress from the 1985 “India Revisited” collection worn by Diana, Princess of Wales (low estimate £10,000), go on sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London. It’s the start of a second act for the archive, as it makes its way into the permanent collections of major international institutions, while further sales are planned to benefit the foundation..
The Zandra Rhodes Foundation 