Haute Cature
Put simply, Gertrude Stein is Zelda Blakley’s favourite author and Tender Buttons of 1914 her favourite book. Transparent intellectual accessibility is not Zelda’s chief concern. Take: “The instance of there being more is an instance of more. The shadow is not shining in the way there is a black line.” She just doesn’t wear her erudition lightly; Zelda also likes to don Mary Martin London and we’re not talking the prêt-à-porter range.
Britain’s leading fashion artist is in her prime, now working at concert pitch: already this month she’s received gongs at The Extraordinary Achievers Charity Awards and Power of A Woman Awards. As always with her one-off pieces, there’s more to Zelda’s cape than meets the eye. “The checked tweed is very British and the handsewn felt shamrocks represent Ireland, reflecting Zelda’s Anglo Irish heritage,” Mary explains. “The duffle coat buckle shows off her street cred too. The costume jewellery is just literally that – fit for royalty!”
The fashion artist was inspired by the oil painting of Queen Charlotte in Zelda’s London residence. Mary shares, “Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar, a contemporary of the Queen Consort of King George III, said she had a ‘positive mulatto face’. Her ethnicity as a woman of colour is often denied or ignored by mainstream history.” Queen Charlotte had a celebrated diamond filled collection of jewellery. To segue back to Gertrude Stein, “Giving it away, not giving it away, is there any difference. Giving it away, not giving it away.”
