Favourite catwalk show

17. Favourite catwalk show

In this video, Zandra Rhodes talks about all the elements that are needed to create a successful catwalk show, including the theme, the music, and the garments. Zandra Rhodes was an innovator with her catwalk shows and they were highly choreographed and theatrically staged at a time when this was unusual compared to the shows of other designers. A film of one of her early shows in 1970 can be seen on British Pathé, and there are several photographs of the designer's shows in the book, The Art of Zandra Rhodes.

One of her favourite catwalk shows described in this interview is that of her India Revisited collection in 1985. This show had saris floating down the runway to music by the Bengali musican Ananda Shankar. In the video, Zandra Rhodes describes one scene in particular that was choreographed to the piece of music called 'Dancing Peacocks' where the models were wearing lycra crinoline skirts, tight Indian trousers, and turbans.

She also recalls the show for the Secrets of the Nile collection of 1987. In this Egyptian-themed catwalk show, the models were asked to walk slightly sideways like hieroglyphics.

The If You Wish Upon a Star collection

18. The If You Wish Upon a Star collection

Zandra Rhodes is known for her theatrical and beautifully choreographed catwalk shows. The If You Wish Upon a Star collection of 1987 was no exception. The catwalk show ended with the song 'When You Wish Upon a Star' from Walt Disney's 1940 animated film Pinocchio. Zandra Rhodes is also known for wearing her own designs, and for this collection she chose to wear the dress known by style number 87/86 as she walked down the catwalk at the end of the show.

In keeping with the theme, the dresses are embellished with glittering hand beading and screen printed with stars. The main print, All Over Stars, was based upon her Egyptian stars from the Secrets of the Nile collection in 1987. The silk chiffon was made sculptural with the use of net underneath to support the frills, peplums, and other skirt shapes.

Although Zandra Rhodes keeps a sample of all her designs in her personal archive, in the video she mentions that unfortunately some of the dresses from this show were destroyed by water damage and were not salvageable.

Elizabeth Taylor wore a dress from the If You Wish Upon a Star collection, and Diana, Princess of Wales, wore a silk chiffon dress from the same collection, in the All Over Stars print, to the British Consulate in Dubai in March 1989.