Skirt girl

Alison Willoughby’s skirts combine two of my loves – fashion and textiles. Her skirts are like pieces of art and they're wearable. They’re a real exploration of material and when worn they come to life.

In 2001, Alison graduated with an MA in Constructed Textiles from the Royal College of Art. Her skirts are "the inevitable outcome of a love of kilts" and the "treasures she and her sister found in her mother’s dressing-up box – petticoats, taffeta skirts, ostrich feathers and clothes from the 1930’s to 1960’s".

Above image was featured in Czeck magazine Blok. I think Alison's skirts are really rock’n roll...and a bit punk rock. You can tell that she is inspired by places in the city that are “neglected, ever-changing, disintegrating and subsiding”. This works beautifully in combination with the rich materials the skirts are made of – at the same time contrasting and balancing.

This is from an installation at Urban Outfitters in Glasgow.