CoolTan Arts took to the catwalk again on Friday 20th April for a fourth time showing at Alternative Fashion Week.
The whole collection, inspired by Dickens’ women, got an enormously positive response from the audience with a big round of applause. Backstage some of the models approached us to say that CoolTan’s collection had been their favourite!

CoolTan’s take on Victorian dress created a tension between contemporary design and yesterday’s fashion. One of the most memorable parts of the day was the appearance of the Miss Havisham inspired wedding dress, which proved a hit with the paparazzi!

Private View: Tue 16 August 2011, 6pm-8pm
Venue: CoolTan Arts Unit B 237 Walworth Road, London SE17 1RL.

An exciting exhibition with fashion show at CoolTan Arts celebrating the achievements of the Batik and Textiles class since it started in 2006 with their first major ‘RetroSpective, coinciding with the 60^th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain’.

Come along to our private view, meet the artists and get inspired.

Please RSVP to kathrin@cooltanarts.org.uk or call 020 7701 2696.

As the Southbank Centre celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain, CoolTan Arts look back over the last 6 years of their Batik and Textiles class with our first major ‘RetroSpective’.

The women of Cooltan Arts, a mental health arts project based in Southwark South London, unveiled their collection of batik kimono designs on the catwalk during Alternative Arts Fashion Week.

“Fantastic!’ is how Lesley Dewhurst reports feeling after her modelling debut, wearing her own design: “I was doing a twirl at the end of the platform and I thought ‘How high is this? What if I fall off?’ I taught art for 20 years, but then life pressures meant I was full of anxiety, trapped at home.” Now, says Lesley, involvement with Cooltan means getting out and getting creative and being stimulated.