Recreation of Hamnett’s
iconic AW84 campaign,
taken 35 years go by the
late Peter LindberghKATHARINE
HAMNETT
STYLE SPOTLIGHT
It was 35 years ago that fashion designer
Katharine Hamnett strolled into a
reception at 10 Downing Street and
flashed then prime minister Margaret
Thatcher the anti-nuclear message
‘58% don’t want Pershing’. Since her
first slogan T-shirt – 1981’s Buddhist-
inspired ‘Choose Life’ – she’s used them
to express her own political views.
Hamnett graduated from Central Saint
Martins in 1969 and spent her first years
as a designer creating boho dresses. In
1984, she was the first recipient of the British Designer of
the Year award from the British Fashion Council. But when
she decided to look into the environmental impact of
clothing production, she was so horrified that she
immediately began lobbying the industry to make changes.
Finding them frustratingly unresponsive, she wound down
her label to concentrate on political activism. In 2017, with
fashion production technology much more advanced, she
relaunched as Katharine Hamnett London. This season,
to mark the 40th anniversary of founding her label, she’s
releasing a capsule collection replicated from her 80s
designs – all produced organically and sustainably.