Leading designers dress Steiff bears for auction to help blind teenagers get a feel for fashion
Big names from the world of fashion have designed and dressed Steiff Bears for the award winning charity Living Paintings, which helps blind children and adults. The bears will be auctioned at the V&A on the evening of February 25th 2010 and the proceeds will help the charity develop new feely images to help blind teenagers get to grips with the fashion choices open to them.
Twiggy says: “In my early days as a model, the world was all about the visual; photography, print, make-up and mini-dresses! Nowadays though, fashion should become far more accessible to everyone. Today many blind youngsters are educated alongside their sighted friends – so helping these youngsters to “see and feel” what is happening around them is very important”.
Betty Jackson says: “I am delighted to be involved with Living Paintings’ amazing project to help blind teenagers to understand fashion. I would love to help convey not only the textural qualities of clothing to those who cannot see, but also the shapes and forms; these features have always been really important to the clothes I design, and I am pleased to share these with young blind people who are starting to think about how they want themselves to be seen.”
Lulu Guinness says: “My bear is wearing one of my Beret purses on his head, with a lovely black and white stripey bow around his neck and I’ve put him inside one of my tote bags. I thought it was fun to inject an element of fashion into my bear design, because I believe Fashion is something that should not be taken too seriously. I hope that blind teenagers can interact with this and enjoy.”
The Fashion bears include:
The Marchesa Bear, designed by Georgina Chapman, is naturally wearing a red-carpet outfit, from the label that is famed for its Oscar gowns. Jennifer Lopez wore Marchesa to last year's Oscars; other high-profile Marchesa wearers include Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Alba.
Dame Vivienne Westwood harked back to the spirit of punk with an androgynous bear in a beautifully pleated kilt and slogan T-shirt, accessorised with a fabulous sparkling cross-body bag in the form of a fish. Ted also wears the Vivienne Westwood 'orb' broach.
Matthew Williamson's bear is not so much dressed as accessorised in his signature pink. Well known for his use of bright colours, especially this vibrant pink, the designer has created a typically flamboyant jewelled bow tie and pin for his Ted.
Betty Jackson cites her look as being all about 'textures and prints, soft volume and relaxed glamour'. Her Ted sports a tunic in classic Betty Jackson print in muted colours.
Lulu Guinness is famous for her accessories, most notably her memorable bags, two of which are being sported by her bear encompassing her signature colours of black, white and red. The black-and-white is in the form of the printed bag in which Ted sits, the red being the beret, which is actually one of the purses from Lulu's range.,
Elle Magazine styled their bear as they would a fashion shoot, carefully constructing a mood board for to give a feel for their inspirations for the outfit. In homage to one of the great designers of today, Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, they embroidered their Ted's name on his shirt: Elle-bear Elbaz.
As befits the original "image of the sixties" Twiggy's Ted has all the spirit of a flower-child of the era in a little floaty mini dress, whilst not forgetting that other look Twiggy excelled at - the twenties flapper in her role on screen in The Boyfriend.
Among the stars who have created bears are Sir Derek Jacobi who has contributed an “I Claudius” bear and Frankie Dettori’s bear is in Racing Silks. Other bears have been dressed by Sir Peter Blake, The cast of Hairspray, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Sir Richard Branson, and Joan Collins. As they are a special edition of the famous Steiff brand they are likely to interest collectors as well as followers of fashion.
Living Paintings Chief Executive, Camilla Oldland says “We are grateful to all the celebrities who have taken time to dress their bears with panache and a great deal of imagination. The range of styles is spectacular. The funds raised will produce new touch and sound packs with special feely images, on subjects that will delight blind teenagers, including fashion, sport, and performing arts.”
Tickets are still available for this event and can be bought by phoning Living Paintings on 01635 299771. Bids for any of the bears can be taken on the night in person or by phone, or in advance.
Membership of Living Paintings postal library of feely picture books for children, educational packs for use in school or the home, and Albums for adults is completely free. New members can join by phoning or by going to www.livingpaintings.org.
