Marian Clayden (1937-2015) was an artist and fashion designer from Preston, Lancashire.[1] She attended Nottingham School of Art and trained to be a teacher before moving to Australia with her husband Roger and their two children.[2][3] She began to experiment with textiles in her kitchen and was soon exhibiting and selling her work.[2] In 1967 she moved her family to Los Gatos, California[4] where she collaborated with costumier Bob Mackie.[1][5] Before starting her own company, Clayden, inc., she worked with two of Cecil Beaton's designers and the McBerman's Costume Company in London.[5] Later she worked with New York based fashion designers Georgio di Sant’Angelo and Mary McFadden.[1]
Marian Clayden | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1937 Preston, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 15 September 2005 Los Gatos, California |
| Education | Nottingham School of Art |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
Clayden's hand dyed fabrics and clothes have been shown in the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.[5] Her clients included Hollywood stars such as Lisa Marie Presley, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver and Catherine Zeta-Jones.[1]
Professional life
editClayden was born into a family of artists and craftspeople near Preston in the North of England and trained to be an oil painter.[2] Both her grandfathers were silversmiths who died young due to respiratory issues associated with silver work.[6]
She worked as a primary teacher in the UK before moving to Australia with her young family.[1][2] She was always interested in fashion and began experimenting with dyes and cloth in 1964.[3] She made wall hangings in Australia before moving again to the USA in 1967 and founding her fashion house Clayden, inc. in Los Gatos, California.[5] where she experienced a "spiritual freedom" that enabled her to "create work that combines the present and the past into a continuum".[3] Her first fashion collection was in 1981[3] though her work was shown internationally since 1970.[3] She said later that there was no specific moment when she became a fashion designer.[3] Her innovative 'toaster prints' introduced in the mid 1980s were created using a sandwich toaster.[7]
In 1987, with her clothing carried by luxury boutiques including Obiko in San Francisco and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, Clayden, inc. surpassed $1 million in sales.[8] A year later, in 1988, that had doubled with the company projecting sales of $2 million.[9]
With a long term interest in Japanese textiles her work was included in an exhibition about the American interpretation of the Shibori technique[3] which she also employed designing costumes for the Broadway musical Hair after she was contacted by the set designer Nancy Potts.[10][5] Most of her clothes design used some form of simplified shibori.[5] Clayden used the South East Asian word “plangi” to describe her tie-dying and dipping technique.[10]
In 1995, a year after suffering a brain aneurysm, Clayden won the Golden Shears Award for Fashion.[5]
Clayden, inc. closed in 2005.[10] Clayden died on 15 September 2015 after a period of illness at the age of 78.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Marian Clayden: A Dyer's Journey Through Art & Fashion". Bonington Gallery. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Marian Clayden's Story". www.marianclayden.com. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bullis, Douglas, ed., ‘Marian Clayden’, in California Fashion Designers: Art and Style, 1st ed (Layton, Utah: Peregrine Smith Books, 1987), pp. 37–40
- ^ Benech, Carolyn L.E., ‘Marian Clayden: Fusion of Art and Fashion’, Ornament, 2008, 46–49
- ^ a b c d e f g Brooks-Myers, Inez (2005). "Marian Clayden's Magic". Surface Design Journal. 29: 18–23.
- ^ Ornament Magazine (1990). Ornament Magazine, Volume 13 No. 3, Spring 1990.
- ^ Bonnington Gallery Exhibition Guide (16 May, 2014) MARIAN CLAYDEN: A dyer's journey through art and fashion https://www4.ntu.ac.uk/webevents/art/document_uploads/157226.pdf
- ^ Gottschalk, Mary, ‘Chic Silk by Design’, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA, 28 June 1987), p. 3L
- ^ Gottschalk, Mary, ‘Designer’s Brush with Success’, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA, 28 June 1988), p. 3L
- ^ a b c d Group, Leeta-Rose Ballester | Bay Area News (30 September 2015). "Los Gatos: Marian Clayden leaves her rather elegant mark on world of fashion". The Mercury News. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
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