Stuart reveals how he had a career in fashion sewn up
AMIDDLETONBORN artist who worked for iconic fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood recently hosted an exclusive talk at Touchstones gallery in Rochdale after showcasing some of his work as part of an exhibition.
Stuart Mckenzie, 55, who is also a fashion illustrator, poet and musician, attended Rochdale College of Art from 1982 to 1985 after leaving school at 16 and has had a fascinating career, which has seen him work with the designer at her London studio.
His early college sketchbooks featured in a recent exhibition at Touchstones in Rochdale - which is operated by Your Trust - and Stuart spoke to an audience at the museum about his experience of fashion illustration.
After being rejected for one job working for the High Street stationers John Menzies, he recalled asking why: “They said, ‘you said you wanted to do something artistic, so why don’t you go to art college?’”
From there he got a prospectus for Rochdale College of Art and applied, and managed to gain a place on the prestigious art foundation course.
Stuart said: “The fact that you were at art college at that time meant that you wanted to achieve something.”
He described the “excitement, fear and nervousness” of starting at the college at 16 and the “massive camaraderie of the students.”
In the 1990s, he worked as a studio assistant with Dame Vivienne Westwood in London for five and a half years. This was after successfully completing a sewing task to make a pair of historical knickers following an interview where he recalled: “they didn’t even look at my portfolio.
He said: “One minute I was on the dole and the next I was sat at a sewing machine working for Vivienne Westwood. It was a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, late nights and partying.”
The Rochdale exhibition featured four of his sketchbooks from his time as a student at Rochdale College of Art.
After graduating, he went on to study at the prestigious St Martin’s College of Art in London.
He then lived in Italy with some other St Martin’s graduates for a couple of years.
Stuart was introduced to Vivienne Westwood when he was working for a jewellery designer friend and he said: “I had to deliver jewellery for one of the shows for Vivienne at the studio at midnight.”
Now in his 50s, and living in London, he is a vocalist and guitarist in a boutique band Wild Daughter who supported Primal Scream at the 02 in 2019 and played the Albert Hall.
His fashion illustrations have been exhibited at TG Gallery, Nottingham, and MIART in Milan.
He would encourage anyone interested in fashion to “just put one foot in front of the other. If you’ve got passion for it, it will show through. Do it for love - it’s not about the money.”