CLUB SANDWICH 68

THAT'S A WRAP, EVERYONE

You've read the book, seen the movie, got the T-shirt...and, as of this autumn, you can buy the scarf. Now a couturiere as well as a cuisinier (and she's not even French), Linda has added another quality string to her bow. The result could be just the thing for a cold Winter...

            Just when we had grown accustomed to describing Linda McCartney as (deep breath) a wife, mother, musician, published and exhibited photographer, owner of award winning horses, bestseller on the book charts and number one veggie caterer in the frozen food cabinet, she's ventured out into yet another area: clothing.
            For October saw the launch of Natural Perspectives, an original collection of scarves and wraps for women, utilising Linda's photographs and the design expertise of top London fashion house Timney-Fowler. The collection can be found in selected stores now, a gorgeous gathering of silk, velvet and devore creations in warm, earthy colours and artful black-and-white, the perfect present for the woman of discernment and taste. (Which, let's face it, covers all female CS readers.)
            Like many a good idea, Natural Perspectives was no deliberate plan -this time two years ago no one was thinking "Eureka! Let's put Linda's pictures onto clothing!" - but, rather, the product of happenstance. Lindy Ross, who coordinated the stage clothes for the New World Tour, recalls how it all unfolded. "It started in summer of 1992, when we were working on costume ideas for the tour - we were remembering how successful those tiger shirts had been on the World Tour, and wondering how -we could get another design which had that much impact. We were thinking along the lines of something strong in the print area and so I went to see Sue Timney at Timney-Fowler to ask whether she'd come up with some ideas. Linda has worn some of Sue's creations in the past. She did some designs which Paul liked, and in the course of the various discussions also expressed the desire to see how Linda's photographs would look on fabric.
            "As a trial, we put in one of Linda's photographs on Paul's initial print - a waistcoat, made up of squares with different Celtic symbols, which was Paul's idea. They wanted something more personal in one of the squares so we put in the Boy Shape from Linda's Sun Prints book. It worked out really well."
            The resulting item was worn by Paul when he and the Band shot the original 'Biker Like An Icon' video in January (fine photos of which adorned the back cover of the Spring Sandwich). Having introduced the Boy Shape Linda became interesting in seeing how some of her other photographs would look on fabric, which she too could wear on the New World Tour. As a consequence, she's been wearing Boy Shape on crushed velvet frock coats, and some silk shirts and scarves featuring her photos of Jamaican crows.
            "That's when the whole business really started," resumes Lindy, "because so many people said how great those clothes were, and what a good idea it was, that Linda didn't want it to stop at the tour. She decided, though, that she also didn't want to go into it in too big a way, at least not to start with, because it's quite unusual for a photographer to have work reproduced on textile. So we've done it small and exclusive at first, to test the public's reaction. Besides, they're not easy to produce. It's not just a 'shove them through and out they come' manufacturing process - it's quite tricky, especially as we're trying to use as many natural processes as we can. Where possible we've been careful to use organic dyes, which don't contain any chemicals."
            The Natural Perspectives collection comprises seven different designs of scarves and wraps, some of them available in varying colours, made in velvet, silk and devore (a process by which velvet is burned off to leave a pattern in the silk backing). "The ironic thing," offers Lindy Ross, "is that there's always the possibility of framing a scarf and putting it on the wall. It's like putting a photograph back into its real home but appreciating it in a new way."
            At the moment, Natural Perspectives can only be bought at Liberty's in London, and at the Timney-Fowler shops - there's a branch in King's Road, London, and another one in Japan. But expansion is on the cards, with discussions presently taking place with a view to enjoying a New York outlet as well as exposure in a prominent group of fashion shops in Britain. As for the cost, prices start at £65. The velvets cost more, but no more than other fine velvet scarves.
            Having successfully utilised Linda's stated aim, "to take the inspiration of beauty from nature", Sue Timney is especially thrilled with the outcome of this adventurous collaboration. "What has made it exciting for me is the meeting of two minds coming together to create these combined images," she says.
            Anyone who has seen Natural Perspectives will surely agree that this combination of thoughtfully-observed photographs and thought-provoking designs could scarcely have worked out better. The question that begs to be asked, though, is just how will Linda choose to surprise us all next?