Doing it for themselves

The women of Cooltan Arts, a mental health arts project based in Southwark South London, unveiled their collection of batik kimono designs on the catwalk during Alternative Arts Fashion Week.

“Fantastic!’ is how Lesley Dewhurst reports feeling after her modelling debut, wearing her own design: “I was doing a twirl at the end of the platform and I thought ‘How high is this? What if I fall off?’ I taught art for 20 years, but then life pressures meant I was full of anxiety, trapped at home.” Now, says Lesley, involvement with Cooltan means getting out and getting creative and being stimulated.  

Watching from the wings as a model paraded her creation Ese Imonioro said: ”It’s an honour and a buzz, to have people seeing your work and admiring it.” Ese was a student at Norwich School of Art before becoming ill and finds Cooltan: “therapeutic, hard work and enjoyable.” Experienced in working with textiles and costume, this isn’t her first fashion show, but she says it’s the first time her work is not for sale: “I’m not selling. I’m keeping it, this is unique.”

Olinka Contreras nods vigorous agreement: “It’s been life changing. I worked in fashion before getting ill, but when I was depressed I had no energy. This is being back into life. This gave me a life.” 

Originally from Chile, Olinka says of the Cooltan batik collection: “You can see how all our backgrounds have influenced the work: there’s an African, South American mix, all on hand dyed silk. There’s been a lot of interest today; I saw a lot of flashes from photographers.”

Olinka’s daughter, Helenka aged two and a half, was the youngest model on the catwalk showing off her mother’s work, while a few of other models were in their fifties. Project director Michelle Baharier said: “It’s interesting to see models of different ages as most models are like no women you ever see.”     

Liz Innes said: ”It felt really good to see my work on the cat walk. It’s satisfying to make things you can wear. I want to continue making clothes from silk and other fabrics.”

Michelle set up Cooltan Arts after her own less than inspiring experience of arts within the mental health system: “When I was ill I was referred to an arts group, but I have an MA from Slade; how were poster paints and sugar paper going to invigorate me?”

Cooltan aims to give people experiencing mental illness a more professional arts experience and work is paced according to the mental health of individual artists. Michelle is keen to build on the energy and success of this textiles project: “We’re looking into producing fabric as a business and we want to get physically disabled people involved in looking at what designs look good in wheelchairs.”

Having long saved to buy their own materials, Cooltan’s models and designers were last seen basking in the sunlight in a street side cafe quaffing champagne in a well deserved celebration of their achievements. 

www.cooltanarts.org.uk
www.funnyfarm.org.uk