St. Michael
2025
Monoprint. Waterbased ink on Ho-sho paper
280 x 400mm
Photo credit: Lucy Newman
The subject is a 1980’s clothes label from a Marks and Spencer’s dress that I bought second hand at a village fete. It reminds me of a pocket sized saint card. I liked it as, though 80’s style, its loose fit and full sleeves mean it could translate to well to an earlier epoch.
Its’ a picture of a picture. The model here has adopted a classic power pose.
I remember the photographic labels from visits to the St Michael / Marks and Spencers Brighton store. I associate the shop with a brief holiday job and with plain lambswool jumpers. I guess this dress was made in factories in Britain, before the general global outsourcing of clothing manufacture and the peak mass production of textiles.
My friend, Bek, told me she once modelled for these label shoots. We both agreed that to see the picture of the dress off the hanger and on a body was useful when browsing garments. LN.
Lucy Newman | Visual artist, UK 