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It
is of no surprise that Alison turned her hand to art and fashion. As relative’s
occupations included tailors, boot makers, artists, architects, photographers,
gardeners and seamstresses. Alison recalls her mother’s dressing-up
box – full of old petticoats, taffeta skirts, ostrich feathers and
clothes from the 1930s to 1960s passed down through the generations –
and the fun she and her sister would have wearing them around the house.
It was while studying at the RCA that Alison began her career as a skirt
maker. During this time, she became interested in kilts. The way they
were created out of a length of classic wool reminded her of her own use
of fabric as a canvas. She decided to learn more about them and visited
Scotland to observe kilt-making in progress and to research the many types
of kilt on sale. From there, she collected images that inspired her and
enrolled in pattern-cutting courses to learn how to make A-line, pleated,
quarter, half– and full-circle skirt. Her dissertation, ‘Disrupting
The Tradition Of The Kilt’, marked a period of convergence in Alison’s
life, when her knowledge of textiles was fused with her love of kilts
and her newly-acquired cutting skills – her skirts were the inevitable
outcome.
