PUPPET MASTER

Phoebe English collaborated with puppet maker, Judith Hope, to bring back the traditional process Parisian couturiers used, producing their working toiles in quarter scale before creating the full scale final pieces. To present the intricate process of these pieces; marks, patinas and traces of making were kept on the marionette form fabric that hung next to their life size twins.

But alongside precision came chaos, in the form of netting frantically stitched on top of garments. Offset by knitwear created as part of a long standing collaboration with the British heritage brand, John Smedley, English’s delicate craftsmanship and construction took centre stage – an apt celebration a few weeks before the brand’s sixth anniversary.