Ethnic Minimalisminternational market. Major outlets include Saks Fifth Avenue branches
throughout America, Petra Teufel in Germany, and in London, Shirin Guild
has been Liberty’s top-selling fashion label since 1997. Nonetheless, few know
her name.
Shirin Guild believes that certain styles of dress possess a time-honoured
functionality and enduring beauty and thus her collections subtly evolve from
season to season, whilst the basic square shaped silhouette and layered
approach remains the same. Function and comfort are a priority. Styles are
loose (many tops are made in just one size and skirts and trousers in small,
medium and large), hang from the shoulders and engulf – but never shroud
- the wearer. Unusual within the high-fashion industry, is the designer’s pride
in the fact that her clothes appeal to and flatter women of various ages,
shapes and sizes. When worn in European or American urban contexts clothes
bearing the Shirin Guild label can transcend distinctions between day and
evening, formal and leisurewear. However a judicious variation in textiles
and yarns can render garments of the same or similar cut ideal for specific
purposes and occasions.
The most luxurious fabrics and yarns, often those associated with the
masculine wardrobe – pinstripe wool, soft flannel, crisp cotton shirting,
Scottish cashmere, grainy tweed and Irish linen – predominate in Shirin Guild’s
collections. However, she also actively embraces new developments in textiles:
recent collections have featured a modernistic, gleaming yarn of steel encased
within silk. Unusual materials accent the collections and include paper fabric
and yarn and, since the decriminalization of hemp for textile purposes, the
designer has made much use of this environmentally friendly and versatile
fibre. The palette is predominantly dark and neutral, with injections of indigo,
vibrant orange, yellow and muted spice tones. Where decoration appears it
is geometric – printed and woven striped and checked designs and blocks of
textured knit.
The ethnographic styling and practicality of Shirin Guild’s designs can be
assessed within the historical context of ‘unconventional’ (sometimes
described as ‘eccentric’) dress – that is, styles selected by those who actively
spurn high-fashion trends. In the post-war period fashions became increasingly
diverse and open to individual interpretation, as well as a host of sub-cultural
alternatives. Certainly before the 1950s, the evolution of fashionable style
was strictly linear and to deviate from this was to risk ridicule and even
social ostracism. Prior to the Second World War, it was therefore primarily
the most daring members of the aristocracy, artists and intellectuals who
dared to flaunt their rebellious attitudes via their mode of dress. Unconven-
tional dress has an international context but has always found especially
vocal expression in Britain.