Felt coat
Screen-printed felt, elastic, wooden beads, Knitted Circle and Diamonds and Roses prints
Zandra Rhodes, London, UK
Design
Zandra Rhodes originally trained as a textile designer and her passion for pattern and colour lies at the heart of her designs. Rhodes designs textile and garment as a single entity, allowing the pattern to dictate the shape of the garment.
I’m thinking of the print making a statement for the garment, rather than the garment just chopping into the print.
Zandra Rhodes
Rhodes has travelled the world seeking inspiration, armed with a sketchbook to record her ideas. These sketches became the basis for new designs. The influence of other cultures is evident throughout her rich and varied career, from her choice of colour and pattern, to her adoption of garments such as saris and kaftans.
Since I did a new look every six months, I had to change my appearance every six months. I used myself as a canvas with no compromises.
Zandra Rhodes

Craft Skills
Zandra Rhodes is renowned for her use of unexpected materials and instinctive understanding of the interplay between different colours. The skirt of this coat is made from one large circle of felt, which acts as a blank canvas for her painterly prints. The hem is printed with the Diamonds and Roses print and the upper part with the Knitted Circles print.
Rhodes favours silk-screen printing. This method involves transferring an image onto a screen by coating it in a light-sensitive liquid, placing an image rendered on Kodatrace onto the screen, and exposing it to a strong light source. The areas not exposed to light wash away, leaving a clear mesh through which the dye passes. An individual screen is used for each colour.
Object photography © Zandra Rhodes/National Museums Scotland
Model photography © Gianni Penati/Conde Nast Collection/Getty Images
Social Culture