Dress design’s plane sailing

Hannah at work on her parachute-silk dress

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IT was wartime thrift to make a wedding dress out of parachute silk — and it inspired a stunning 21st century creation by a local art student which is on show this week.

Hannah Stanton (18) from Diggle, was on her foundation degree course at Manchester Metropolitan University, when she began to research a project on wartime fashion.

When she learned how parachute silk came to the aid of many a war-time bride, she began a project on transformational fashion and recycling materials.

A friend of her family was able to donate a parachute to Hannah, from Buckton Close, and at first she was disappointed that it was orange and white.

But then the idea grew on her: “I decided I quite liked it and dyed a few of the panels a darker orange to make it more intense.”

She used the parachute cords to create a structured bodice and also dyed some of them blue for contrast.

And when she photographed her creation, she used the area around the war memorial at Pots and Pans, above Uppermill, to create a visual contrast, with the blue sky, dark rocks, and the vibrant colours of the wedding dress.

Now the dress is on display at the university’s exhibition for foundation and third year BA honours students, at the School of Art in the Grosvenor Buildings, Cavendish Street, Manchester, until June 28.

Her course tutor, Anthony Ratcliffe, from Mossley, a fine-art lecturer and programme leader in art and design at MMU, said: “Her dress is now suspended about 15ft above the exhibition which is one of the best shows we have had.

“She did the project totally off her own bat, and did a lot of research about wedding dresses and parachute silk.

“The photographs are also quite stunning.”

Hannah, a former Saddleworth School and Oldham Sixth Form student, is now going to Northumbria University to study for a degree in fashion marketing.