Tangerine Pomegranate
Silver Pomegranate
Silver Storm
Claret Storm
Pomegranate Print Inspiration
A magical tour around the hidden corridors of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, revealed George Gilbert Scott’s extraordinary creative mind. His attention to detail covered every golden capital, plinth, ceiling and fanlight with images and carvings of conkers, dragons and bursting pomegranates.
It was the pomegranates that caught my eye. It’s intriguing shape and inviting seeds have been used throughout history and in virtually every culture to represent life, death, rebirth and eternal life to fertility, marriage and wealth. They appear as highly patterned abstract forms in Persian ceramics and embroidered suzani textiles from Central Asia; as carved relief in ancient Greece and within still life compositions in European painting.
Once upon a time, the newly built train tracks converged at Kings Cross to bring people of all cultures into the centre of London. Gilbert Scott’s Gothic masterpiece, with the pomegranate appearing over walls and doorways, has had it’s own rebirth and feels like it was built to celebrate all that is good about London.
My own personal melting pot of inspiration always includes a sprinkle of Russian design; this time taking inspiration from the Natalia Goncharova exhibition at Tate Modern. Exquisite hues of blue and grey in her painting Hoar Forest, called out to me, giving me confidence in the colour palate I had been working on in the studio. Mixing this colour palate with the abstract and highly decorative Middle Eastern, Uzbek, and Turkish depictions of pomegranates put my own Longstaff Longstaff spin on the ancient motif.
Two new styles have been added to the collection too. As with the Tattoo Collection, they have been named after London streets but this time around Kings Cross St Pancras. The York shirtdress takes the hugely popular D’Arblay shirt, gives it a three quarter length button through skirt, with pockets, and a simple D ring belt.
The Lorenzo dress is a little snappier – a deep V neck at the front and cut away shoulders to a racer back, this will see you through the heaviest of party seasons.
Lorenzo Dress
York Shirtdress
