Comments on: Richard & Cosmo Wise’s Collection https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Fri, 21 Aug 2015 10:22:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 By: Catherine M https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-1003392 Fri, 21 Aug 2015 10:22:51 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-1003392 Wonderful.
In 1978 I lived for a short while as a teenager in a semi- derelict Georgian row of houses on Lansdown Drive, London fields.
The fine old buildings were squatted by a very rough crew of Irishmen, yet the residents, mostly Irish too were charged ”rent”. It was a scandal.
Channel 4 once did a programme on the scam, called ”Gimme Shelter”.
There was a house along the row that had been some sort of clothing maker, as bags and bags of leather offcuts, suedes and similar were left to decay in the rain that trickled down from the leaking roof.
Darning is indeed a lost skill, in the days of Primark and cheap clothing..no one needs to darn now.
But my mum darned our woolies and patched our jeans as we wore them out, and bought jeans too big, and sewed the bottoms up so as we grew, the jeans could be ”lengthened”. This led to ‘tidemarks’ of wear at the bottom of the jean’s legs.
My parents weren’t poor, but it was the wartime generation that brought us up, with the ”waste not, want not” mentality.
Even plastic bags were washed out and left to dry on the line by my grandmother for re-use.
Clothing can hold the ‘vibe’ of the wearer, for certain.
I looked at the derelict Georgian terrace on Google Earth recently, and they have become gentrified.
Wonder what became to the residents, many of whom were elderly, in very poor health, and almost destitute.

]]> By: ARNAUD https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-78549 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:08:53 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-78549 Hello… nice post… I’m french vintage seller…and really knows all those old clothes… fabulous items…http://fcancan.blogspot.fr/2011/02/private-saleright-now.html

]]> By: kay chefchis https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-26613 Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:25:50 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-26613 i had the pleasure of meeting Cosmo in Sturbridge, Mass @ The Antique Textile Show in September. Amazing and life changing is the word on these truly remarkable textiles. Full of history mixed with sensual layers of texture…. the power of the hand, with its ability to darn, mend and recover the lost and weary. god bless cosmo.

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24551 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:57:30 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24551 I really admire people who can breathe life into old garments or remodel them into something else. There is a guy with a shop in Edinburgh called Joey D. He takes old clothing and items that people just discard and turns them into fab new creations and accessories.

It’s interesting to imagine these old pieces of clothing, what they were worn for in their former life and also the people who would have been in them. In many cases I expect they were passed down and so the cycle would have gone on. The Wise’s look passionate about them too.

]]> By: lisa miller https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24183 Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:48:52 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24183 These 2 are extraordinary! What they put together is incredible, I am now living in LA and
am going to try and catch them in September at the Rose Bowl flea market.

Thank you for sharing this- we need more imagination, passion and creativity such as this.

]]> By: jeannette https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24162 Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:51:50 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24162 these beautiful old clothes reminded me of both japanese boro textiles (indigo farmers’ kimonos, much mended by their wives with an array of amazing japanese quilting and darning stitches, once hidden by japanese as shameful rags — “boro” — now too expensive for regular people to collect) and the gee’s bend quilts made of worn blue jeans by african american quilters in a remote community here in america (i think jane fonda discovered them) (for real).

this blog post has a pic of each, for your delectation.
http://fibercopia.com/2007/11/09/japanese-boro-textiles/

with thanks.

]]> By: Kimberley https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24151 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:58:56 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24151 Richard Wise looks like an old style painting.

Wonderful article. It makes me regret not being able to repair my own clothes beyond putting on a button or mending a simple tear.

]]> By: Nota Bene https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24143 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:25:37 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24143 Never really thought about clothes having a history…but now I do…great stuff

]]> By: jane osullivan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/12/richard-cosmo-wises-collection/#comment-24135 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:22:54 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=41169#comment-24135 I love hearing about these guys …a couple of bucks as we would say in Ireland .
what they do and see is magical , and takes you gentle to bring it here.
Fascinating and important post .

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