Autumn/Winter '12 production mode...

We are seriously getting into production gear for our autumn/winter orders. There has been much sorting, measuring, dying & bundling together of fabrics, grading of patterns & general frenetic activity ...we took a few shots on the blackberry of some of our fabrics.

We are crushing on this particular scarf depicting scenes from the Bayeux tapestry, love the knights on horseback!

Some wools and luscious vintage fabrics that we are matching together for individual garments.

A pile of our hand made re-cycled labels.

Seriously excited about seeing the finished products!

& maidens rinse their summer smocks ready for midsummer

East London has got it's face washed nice and clean, everyone is moaning about the rain, but let's face it, we need it...the green of the grass is so luridly bright as to be almost neon, the leaves are marvelously tender before they harden to their summer maturity & we are enjoying the last of the blossom.
If all this rain means we will be basking in sunshine come mid-summer, let it rain!

Nixie Clothing Petal top detail SS12

Nixie Clothing SS12 by Tara Moore

Nixie Clothing by Sonya Hurtado

By Cameron from Working Towards

Nixie Clothing Summer Kimono Coat 

Proper Propaganda

We had a visitor from Chicago last week & we dutifully trotted her around the tourist sights of London...Picadilly Circus, Soho, The Tower, we made it to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and (having never seen it before ourselves), we were struck by the pomp & splendor of the spectacle and by the huge crowd of visitors who had come to see it...proper propaganda indeed! 
This wasn't the london we know...but it got us to thinking about English scarf designers Jacqmar of London, they produced propaganda scarves from 1940 - 1945 to help with the war effort. This was a fascinating period when poster design, propaganda & fashion combined. The chief designer was Arnold Lever who continued working for the company even after he had joined the RAF. The scarves fall into three main thematic groups of the armed forces, allies and home front. They usually have the Jacqmar name on the scarf.

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In rationed silk overprinted with various illustrations of Winston Churchill and famous extracts from his inspirational wartime speeches. 

Blush-coloured & printed all over with colourful British regimental badges, around the edges the printed slogan 'INTO BATTLE' is repeated.

Printed rayon depicting envelopes addressed to soldiers at the front.

'Red star' propaganda scarf with a bold design affirming and celebrating the Allied alliance with the soviet union.

The holy grail of wearable propaganda, this Jacqmar, 'London Wall' scarf was produced in both silk and rayon and likely printed by liberty.

'Salvage your Rubber', with illustration and other well known Home Front slogans encouraging the conservation and recycling of materials.

The official Nixie blog is born...

Please welcome Nixie's official blog; here we'll be chronicling our news & providing an insight into our world & what inspires us.