Rhodes, Zandra (1940-…), is a British textile and fashion designer. She is known for her exotic, screen-printed designs in brilliant colors. Rhodes designs and prints the fabrics she uses in her fashions. She is known for her combinations of bright colors. Her most lasting fashion look has a deep “V” neckline and graceful sleeves and gathers into a full skirt with the waistline accented by a contrasting satin sash. This look has appeared in many of her fashion collections since it was first introduced in 1973. Rhodes is personally involved in the process of creating each collection, including wearing and representing each new look herself. She once said, “I use myself as a canvas.”
Zandra Lindsey Rhodes was born in Chatham, Kent, England, on Sept. 19, 1940. She studied textile design for home furnishings at Medway College of Art from 1959 to 1961. She won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, in London, and studied there from 1961 to 1964. At Royal College, she changed from designing furnishing textiles to designing dress fabrics. After graduation, she began her career as a free-lance textile designer. In 1964, Rhodes formed a partnership with fashion designer Sylvia Ayton. Together, they opened a shop called The Fulham Road Clothes Shop in London. But Rhodes’s style was too flamboyant for the partnership, and she struck out on her own with her first collection in 1969.
Rhodes became director of her own company in 1975, with Ben Scholten as head of design. Rhodes designs the textiles, with the placement of the design motifs on the finished garment in mind. Scholten drapes the finished textiles to develop the dress patterns. Printing and draping are all done in Rhodes’s London studio. Rhodes’s most acclaimed designs include a ripped silk jersey punk dress (1977) and a “champagne bubble” outfit (1978). She has also designed for the ballet and the opera, developing distinctive printed textiles for each production.
Rhodes founded the Fashion and Textile Museum in London in 2003. The museum closed briefly and reopened in 2008 as part of Newham College. It houses permanent and temporary exhibitions on contemporary fashion, textiles, and jewelry. The museum focuses on British and international designers from 1950 to the present. In 1997, Rhodes was made a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth.
