Selvedge Magazine

14/10/2025

WIN WIN WIN: Last chance to enter.

There’s still time to win one of four beautiful prizes from our Issue 126, Deco, prize draw — but not for long!

Entries close soon, and on 15 October, our new issue will bring a fresh collection of treasures to be won.
Try your luck, and perhaps you will win a touch of craft, colour, and creativity for your home or wardrobe. This Issue's prizes are as follows:

- A Margo Selby “Cranbrook” autumnal rug: a hand-tufted blend of wool and tencel inspired by cut glass forms and geometric rhythm. Woven in coral, magenta, crimson, and teal — a celebration of colour and texture worth £500

- A João Bruno “Arraiolos” Stool / Side Table: Portuguese weaving meets modern design. Crafted with 3-ply twisted wool traditionally used for arraiolos carpets, woven directly onto the frame. Compact, functional, and beautifully tactile. Worth £555.

- A Rouka Wall Hanging: limited-edition appliqué artwork created from repurposed saree remnants. Its vivid red banana tree motif transforms discarded fabric into a confident statement of sustainable artistry Worth £500.

- A Ka-Sha “Phoolan” Jacket — crafted in undyed kora cotton from Tamil Nadu, featuring bold hand-appliquéd motifs that bridge the seasons — the perfect piece to layer up as autumn arrives. Worth £571.

Enter before 15 October for your chance to win, before these prizes make way for our next issue.

Head to selvedge.org > Community > Enter a Prize Draw before 15 October and fill in the linked form to enter, before these prizes make way for our next issue.

-



-

Ka-Sha Photo Credit: Rhea Suradkar. Model: Ridhiema S Mehmi

13/10/2025

THE STYLE IS THE SUBSTANCE: Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s enduring love affair with Europe culminated in the most magical of ways: in 2014, he released The Grand Budapest Hotel, widely considered to be not only one of his best films but one of the greatest of the 21st century. It was also his most successful commercially, earning $174.6 million on a $25 million budget, and receiving nine Oscar nominations that brought four wins (notably for costume design, hair and makeup, and production design). The
image of the soft-pink facade of the titular hotel is among the most enduring of Anderson’s career. Within his filmography, it represents something of a departure from the more woodsy colours of his previous work. But what was it about a caper set in a charming, grandiose hotel in a fictional European country on the brink of war
that so enchanted audiences?...

Find out more in an edited extract from "Colours of Wes Anderson: The Films in Palettes", by Hannah Strong, featured in Selvedge Issue 126, Deco.

To purchase your copy tap on our link in bio, or head to selvedge.org.



-

12/10/2025

A hundred years after the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Mumbai stands as home to one of the world’s largest collections of Art Deco architecture. Arriving in the city a decade later, the style was embraced by a new generation of Indian architects who transformed reclaimed coastal land into geometric marvels.

Mumbai’s Deco is unmistakably its own: while it borrows the speed lines, ziggurats, and frozen fountains of international design, it also responds to the tropical climate with balconies for ventilation, “eyebrows” to shade the sun, and a vernacular spirit woven into facades.

From cinemas and offices to homes and places of worship, buildings feature flora, fauna, religious motifs, and even family crests, reflecting the city’s rich cultural fabric.

Recognised as a World Heritage Site in 2018, Mumbai’s Art Deco exemplifies a dialogue between Western form and Indian spirit—a true testament to how global style can be reimagined locally.

Read more in Selvedge Issue 126, Deco, in an article by Suhasini Krishnan, Associate Director of the Art Deco Mumbai Trust.

Tap on our link in bio to purchase your copy.



-



-

Image Credits:

1/2/3: Details of the Rajjab Mahal, Mumbai - Alamy.

11/10/2025

SUPERFINE: TAILORING BLACK STYLE
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, until 26 October 2025

Superfine: Tailoring Black Style at the Met’s Costume Institute is a compelling portal into the world of the Black dandy, fashionable figures I’ve observed over my 25 plus years in New York City, on subways, in sports arenas, on runways, and among prominent media personalities. But the historical deep dive into its origins, evolution, and global reach across the Black diaspora is truly eye-opening.

Whether the viewers identify as Black or not, the exhibition offers many resonant points. The very act of dressing up – choosing what to wear – is a fashion strategy for tackling the world, whether to conform
(sometimes subserviently) or to defy and assert identity. That tension is the core idea woven through the 12 themes of the exhibition, as conceived by guest curator Monica L. Miller, whose 2009 book Slaves to
Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of the Black Diasporic Identity serves as the exhibition’s foundation.

The themes – Ownership, Presence, Distinction, Disguise, Freedom, Champion, Respectability, Cosmopolitanism Joke, Heritage, Beauty, and Cool – guide visitors through 250 years of Black dandyism. More than 200 items – including clothing, accessories, paintings, photographs, and ephemera – tell a powerful story...

Read more from this article, written by Gurmeet Kaur, in Issue 126, Deco. And if you are in New York, don't miss the show! There are only two weeks left to view.



-

10/10/2025

“In my practice, I’m trying to find new ways of doing old things.” - Catherine-Marie Longtin

French-Canadian quiltmaker Catherine-Marie Longtin, now based in London, transforms fragments of fabric into fields of quiet tension and harmony. Her one-of-a-kind quilts are less about pattern and more about perception — studies in colour, balance, and the small surprises that happen when two tones almost, but not quite, match.

She builds her compositions directly on the wall, shifting and folding cut pieces of cloth until they click — a process more akin to painting or collage than traditional quilting. What emerges is a conversation between control and chance, precision and play.

Longtin’s influences stretch from abstract art to the bold minimalism of Amish and Gee’s Bend quilts, whose strength lies in their restraint. In her hands, the quilt becomes a living abstraction and a patchwork of colour memory, repetition, and rhythm.

In Issue 126, Deco, Longtin shares a tutorial on creating a quilted log-cabin block, adapted from her book Log Cabin Quilting Blocks. Head to our link in bio to get your copy, and start stitching your own cosy quilt blocks - the perfect project for Autumn evenings.



-

10/10/2025

09/10/2025

BREAKING NEWS:
Selvedge Winter Fair – Change of Date and Venue

Due to the recent burst water main in Marylebone, our beloved venue St. Mary’s Bryanston Square has sadly been damaged by flooding and will be closed for repairs.

The Selvedge Winter Fair 2025 will now take place on Sunday, 23 November, 11am–5pm, at the Royal Horticultural Halls, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE - a stunning Edwardian space with a glass-vaulted ceiling, nestled in a quiet leafy square in Westminster.

We’re so grateful for your support as we relocate this much-loved event and can’t wait to welcome you to our new venue, where 90 talented makers and merchants will be showcasing rare vintage fabrics, haberdashery, and handcrafted textile treasures.

Our thoughts are with the Marylebone community and everyone affected by the flooding.

New Venue: The Royal Horticultural Halls, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE
New Date: Sunday, 23 November 2025
Time: 11am–5pm

For further information, please head to the Winter fair page on our website.

-

09/10/2025

A humble eBay find — a wooden spool wound with gold Terylene thread — became the starting point for a journey into textile history. The label spoke of an earlier time, yet the shiny polyester thread signalled a brave new world: a postwar invention that promised easy-care modernity, revolutionised fashion and domestic life, and ultimately left us with today’s complex legacy of plastic fibres and textile waste.

From the mills of Lancashire, where polyester was first developed in secret during the 1940s, to its global reach and enduring impact on industry, culture, and the environment, polyester’s story is full of contradictions — both promise and peril, innovation and aftermath.

On now, The Synthetic Revolution at Haworth Art Gallery, part of the 2025 British Textile Biennial, uncovers this history. Co-curated by Claire Wellesley-Smith and Amber Butchart, the exhibition traces invention and innovation past, present, and future — from Turkey-red dye gardens to early polymers, from traditional craft to space-age technology.

Read more in Claire Wellesley-Smith’s article in Selvedge Issue 126, Deco.


art.gallery


-

08/10/2025

This year marks 150 years of Liberty & Co., the iconic British department store whose silks and prints became synonymous with artistic living. Dubbed by Oscar Wilde as “the chosen resort of the artistic shopper,” Liberty blended global influences with refined British taste, offering textiles and garments that reshaped the aesthetics of the late 19th century.

'Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co.: The Early Years' by Liberty’s long-serving archivist, Anna Buruma, explores the birth of the store’s dress department from 1884 to the 1920s. Through decades of research, Buruma traces how Arthur Lasenby Liberty’s fascination with Greek drapery, Japanese kimonos, and Eastern design inspired flowing garments that stood in quiet rebellion against the corseted fashions of the era.

Richly illustrated with photographs, fabric swatches, and original catalogues, the book reveals how Liberty helped shape the Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts movements — and how meticulous archival work continues to illuminate the artistry behind the brand’s enduring style.

Find out more about this publication in the Selvedge bookshop, and in 'AT LIBERTY:
Books to celebrate 150 years of Liberty' by Keren Ben-Horin, Selvedge Issue 126, Deco.

-








Image Credits:
1/ Cloak in “Cynthia” brocade, mid-1890s.
2/ Green “Mab” smock dress, post-1900
3/ Messrs. Liberty’s dressmaker’s workroom, 1900
4/ Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co.: The Early Years by Anna Buruma

08/10/2025

Join Nadia Albertini and embroider a Sequinned Flower, in a Selvedge Online Workshop.
Saturday 1 & 15 November 2025, 2 - 5pm GMT

With a background that spans continents and couture houses, Nadia Albertini brings both technical mastery and deep historical insight to her embroidery practice. Taught to stitch by her grandmother at the age of seven in Mexico City, she went on to study textiles in Paris, earning her MA from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and now pursuing a PhD in fashion embroidery archives at the prestigious École Nationale des Chartes.

Over the years, Nadia has collaborated with leading fashion houses including Chloé, Chanel, Balmain, Marc Jacobs, Schiaparelli, Dries Van Noten, and The Row—developing embroidery designs steeped in historical reference and contemporary elegance. She works with artisans around the world, from Paris to Italy, India, and Madagascar.

In this exclusive Selvedge online workshop, Nadia invites participants to explore a forgotten corner of embroidery history through the work of Jean François Bony, an 18th-century French artist and embroiderer who created designs for Marie Antoinette, Empress Joséphine, and Napoleon.

Together, you’ll examine one of Bony’s original motifs from a court dress sample made in Lyon around 1800, and reinterpret it as a sequinned and polychrome silk flower, rich with detail and historical resonance.

Combining storytelling, technique and textile heritage, this two-part workshop offers a rare opportunity to learn from one of today’s most thoughtful embroidery voices.

Find out more by heading to selvedge.org > Learn > Book a Workshop.



-

07/10/2025

WOVEN OUTSIDE THE FRAME

At the 2024 Venice Biennale, Indigenous textiles from Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand took centre stage—signalling a long-overdue shift in the visibility of these living traditions within the global art world.

From unfinished Andean knits that invited audience participation to the collective work of Textiles Semillas—a network of over 200 women safeguarding regional heritage—the exhibitions highlighted both the resilience and adaptability of these practices. Yet, the contrast between participatory, community-led displays and the formalist "white cube" framing of some institutions also raised pressing questions:

Who holds the authorship of collective traditions? How do Western art systems shape the narratives of Indigenous makers? And can these practices be experienced as living, social textiles — rather than static objects on display?

These questions remain vital as Indigenous textile practices continue to enter and reshape the global art circuit.

Read more in Selvedge Issue 126, Deco.
Article by Francesca Stocco

-

Image Credits:
1/ Ione Saldanha, Bamboo series. Venice Biennale, Central Pavilion, 2024.
2/ Claudia Alarcón & Silät, El tejido mensaje-aliento-pensamiento-resistencia, Unión Textiles Semillas, exhibited at the Cantando Bajito, 2024, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York.
3/ Claudia Alarcón & Silät, Stranieri Ovunque?, Foreigners Everywhere?, ? Arsenale?, Venice Biennale, 2024. Stranieri Ovunque, Venice Biennale, Argentina Pavillion, 2024
4/ Jeffrey Gibson, The Enforcer, we want to be free, and We are made by history to the space in which to place me. Venice Biennale, U.S Pavilion, 2024.