OSSIE CLARK
with Linda Watson

Tuesday 15th September 2015
Doors open at 6:30 pm, Talk commences at 7:00 pm

Ossie Clark dressed the famous and fashionable of the swinging sixties in unabashed show stoppers. His evening wear was boldly seductive; his tailoring deliciously precise; and above all his clothes were unfailingly feminine. Working closely with his wife and muse, Celia Birtwell, who created his charming, colorful prints and textiles, Ossie Clark became known as a "master cutter" whose customers included Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Julie Christie Twiggy and Marianne Faithfull. In this talk, fashion historian Judith Watt examines the work of Ossie Clark, one of the most important designers in British fashion whose influence is still felt today.

'The Ossie Clark we really want to know has at last been put back in the spotlight to shine' - Dazed and Confused

'A wonderful reminder of a neglected genius' - Daily Express

Linda Watson
Linda Watson has worked with three of the fashion greats: Vivienne Westwood, the late Jean Muir and Ossie Clark's wife and muse, Celia Birtwell. Author of the best-selling 'Vogue Twentieth Century Fashion' and more recently 'Vogue on Vivienne Westwood', Linda is currently writing ‘Fashion Visionaries’ for publishers Laurence King. She graduated from Northumbria University – where she is Reader in Fashion – with a double first class and honours degree in fashion design and a historical studies in 1987. She has worked with Vivienne Westwood on design, Celia Birtwell on an Ossie Clark retrospective and the late Jean Muir on speechwriting. She started her fashion writing career at British Vogue. With experience on both sides of the fence – as both a designer and writer – Linda has a unique perspective on the fashion industry..

Tickets £20 including a glass of prosecco. Please click here to buy.

2015 DATES AT THE CAFE ROYAL

14th July 2015
Kate Bethune on Alexander McQueen

15th September 2015
Judith Watt on Ossie Clark

In 1863, a French wine merchant called Daniel Nicholas Thévenon and his wife arrived in England in a bid to escape the clutches of creditors in Paris. So began a story that grew out of bankruptcy and culminated in the creation of Regent Street’s Café Royal: a truly remarkable and original establishment with what was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world and was reputed for its excellent hospitality, dining and entertainment. 

Frequented by writers and artists such as Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, the conversations, inspirations and discussions at ‘The Café’ were profound. Arthur Conan Doyle, H G Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, W B Yeats, Walter Sickert and James McNeill Whistler were all patrons. Distinguished figures such as Winston Churchill, Augustus John, D H Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Noël Coward, Jacob Epstein and Graham Greene were also often seen.