{"id":3779,"date":"2009-07-06T17:22:35","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T22:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=3779"},"modified":"2010-03-20T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2010-03-21T02:15:57","slug":"multiplication-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/multiplication-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiplication Rock*"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the ’80s, a designer named Sandra Garratt had a concept for modular, one-size-fits-all, mix-and-match clothing. She did two lines based on that idea: Units and Multiples. I particularly remember the Multiples accessory pieces that you could wear as a scarf or belt or top or whatever else you could invent. I hadn’t thought of Multiples in years, until I looked around the Francis studio and noticed attractive arrangements of multiples everywhere.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Paint<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thread<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fabric<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dress forms<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Ladies wearing identical skirts<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

\n

When I looked for more information on Garratt<\/a>, I was amazed to find out she’d gotten her start as a design assistant to my favorite vintage designer, Ossie Clark<\/a>. There’s an interesting New York Times article on Multiples from 1988 here<\/a>, in which Donna Karan compares the Multiples concept to her own work:<\/p>\n

”Multiples and I are like kissing cousins,” said Donna Karan, the designer. ”The first fall collection I did was a tube skirt with a roll-down cuff waistband in black jersey. They’ve made a business, a brilliant business, out of a few wonderful pieces that work.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People Magazine also wrote about Garratt’s booming business in 1988<\/a>, as did Inc.<\/a>, but just a year later, Garratt sued<\/a> the company that bankrolled Multiples, wound up losing her rights to the line and filed for bankruptcy protection<\/a>. As far as I can tell, Multiples exists primarily in the fond memories of customers<\/a>, though Sandra Garratt is still working with the modular theme on a smaller scale here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of hot trends from days gone by, everyone my age learned their multiplication tables from Schoolhouse Rock<\/a>. I swear, “I Got Six” is a catchy tune. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

*A version of this post was originally published on my now defunct Francis blog<\/a>.<\/em> <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the ’80s, a designer named Sandra Garratt had a concept for modular, one-size-fits-all, mix-and-match clothing. She did two lines based on that idea: Units and Multiples. I particularly remember the Multiples accessory pieces that you could wear as a scarf or belt or top or whatever else you could invent. I hadn’t thought of…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81,65,83,41,122],"tags":[365],"class_list":{"0":"post-3779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-francis-roth","8":"category-designers","9":"category-gorgeous-friends","10":"category-pictures-of-me","11":"category-skirts","12":"tag-sandra-garratt","13":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3779"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3785,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions\/3785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}