Michele Caragher
Embroidered details in Game of Thrones
‘Michele Carragher is a London-based Hand Embroiderer and Illustrator who has been working in costume on film and television productions for over 15 years. She studied Fashion Design at The London College of Fashion, where the course incorporated design, pattern cutting, garment construction, embroidery, millinery and illustration. At the same time she attended a three year evening course in Saddlery at Cordwainers College learning skills in leatherwork.
After leaving college Michele worked in Textile Conservation, repairing and restoring historical textiles for private collectors and museums, specialising in hand embroidery. She then moved into a career in costume for film and television, initially working as a Costume Assistant/Maker on productions such as the BBC’s Our Mutual Friend, ITV’s David Copperfield and Mansfield Park. She soon gravitated towards the decoration and embellishment of costumes, using skills in hand embroidery and surface decoration, taking inspiration from the many historical textiles she had encountered working as a Textile Conservator.
The first production that saw her undertake the role of a Principal Costume Embroiderer was for HBO’s 2005 Emmy Costume award-winning production of Elizabeth 1. Her most recent work has been on HBO’s 2012 Costume award-winning television series Game of Thrones, working on all three seasons.
As a Costume Embroiderer Michele specialises in hand embroidery and surface embellishment, using traditional hand embroidery techniques, smocking, beading and surface decoration. She works directly onto the completed garment or starts with motifs and textures on silk crepeline/organza, which are applied to the costume and then worked into once on the actual garment. She also works on existing machine embroidery designs that are not too dense, adding some hand stitching and beading to give a more authentic, hand-finished look.
Michele finds hand embroidery has more flexibility and diversity than that of embroidery created by machine, as there is a greater variety of thread choice and colours to use. It is also possible to work more easily on garments that are already constructed. However, machine embroidery in combination with hand work can be very useful when completing many repeats by creating light outlines or a less dense machine stitch, work can then be completed by hand and again can be carried out on a finished garment.
Michele is a highly creative Costume Embroiderer, producing original designs as well as working closely to a costume designer’s brief to create their desired look.’
Text and images from http://www.michelecarragherembroidery.com
God, that embroidery is so gorgeous! I had no idea that third dress was so detailed after seeing it on the show… Amazing work.
Talking back to negative appropriations on TED
General trigger warnings for mentions of rape culture, rape, and sexual violence.
An old, but good interview with Emma Watson on the importance of fair trade while she was in Bangladesh a few years ago.
A sceencap of a fact sheet I made for my Environment & Society class that’s all about sustainable and fair trade fashion. Thought it was a bit timely to share since we discussed the Bangladesh factory collapse in class today and I was the only one who raised their hand when the professor asked if anyone had read about it. Its absolutely heartbreaking that over 700 people have died so far, the largest of its kind ever in the garment industry. Such working conditions are a environmental and human rights violation and its time to make changes that will benefit garment workers rather then just business owners.
The creator of People Tree, Safia Minney, talks with a reporter about the collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh and why it is important to treat workers fairly. This story is absolutely infuriating and I find it mind boggling that more people aren’t questioning where their clothes came from and what conditions they were made in.
I’m sad that Roger Stonehouse’s photo, An Odd Couple, which has been appreciated by cultural anthropologists and sociologists alike as a cultural statement is now the cover for Fall Out Boy’s new CD. Ugh.
Pre-1930 Woodworth Fiancee Arrowhead shape compact
So I truly have the most thoughtful mother, I had told her a few months ago I wanted to start a vintage compact collection and she remembered this while picking out one of my birthday presents. I received this present in the mail for my birthday today! It still has a small tin of (what I think) is blush and its powder puff. I adore it and it was a great way to start off my collection!
I’m currently going through my whole wardrobe recording information about where my clothes are made and what materials they are made from for my environment and society class when I stumbled upon this lovely message on one of my shirts (look at the smaller tag on the right).
Madame Grès
March is Woman’s History month, so all throughout March we’ll be highlighting awesome woman designers!
Um… I may have just created a youtube channel for this blog? I’m not even sure how exactly I’ll utilize it or even if I will. But if your curious about it, the channel’s name is FashionAnthropology because someone already took the name Anthropological Fashion (and all the similarly titled ones) much to my dismay. So, I may become a youtuber? What do ya’ll think about this idea?
