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Romantique Couture
Cockermouth
Cumbria
United Kingdom
CA13 0RA
T: 01900 824329
M: 07812 210880
Email: angy@
angymorton.com
Angy Morton is an avant-garde fashion designer. She provides an exclusive, bespoke fashion service for individuals and boutiques. She draws on extensive experience to work with her clients to produce personalised designs that are stylish and eye-catching from her studio in the English Lake District. She doesn't follow convention and believes the mainstream fashion industry has too many square boxes and too many rules. "I'm more of a creative artist," she says. "For me, fashion should be free and engaging and creative and, in my world, creativity and regulation are two separate things. They cannot live together. That's why I live in the Lakes, and not in London."
Angy's business is centred on bespoke outfits - one-off designs or customised versions of the clothes in her collections - see her online 'Avant-Garde' BUTiQ for further details. However, she offers everything from recycled clothing and quality alterations, to haute couture confections that would grace any red carpet. Her speciality is creating something unique and 'different', and she is always challenging that fine line between the street and the catwalk.
Angy inherited her flair for dressmaking from her grandmother, a dressmaker, who first allowed her to use a sewing machine when she was only six years old, though she was stitching long before that. "My grandmother was very mathematical.," recalls Angy, "the designing side is creative but if you don't understand the technical side, you can't do it."
In 2004, Angy established her Romantique Couture business on a part time basis from her studio in the Lake District. In 2008 she began to work full time on her Spectrum in Four Seasons couture collection which was exhibited on catwalks and was well received. These creations are rich in imagination and romance. Fabric, form and colour reflect Lake District landscapes and classic lines combine with a contemporary, sometimes urban edginess to unique and and occasionally startling effect.
In 2008 Angy made headlines when she ripped up her Newcastle United top and transformed it into a wedding dress, in protest at Kevin Keegan leaving the club. She then set-about creating a unique, and controversial, collection of haute couture designs called Stolen Dreams. Her fusion of fashion and football, has been crafted from the replica strips of several Premiership football clubs. The collection was launched in 2009 to raise awareness of Angy’s special, artistic style and to draw attention to the possibilities of recycling the vast number of home and away strips clubs churned out each year.
Stolen Dreams also led to a new project, to develop a range of designer fan wear since girls are complaining that they have nothing ‘girlie’ to show their support for their team, either at or after the match. This is ongoing. Any further developments will announced on the blog or press pages in due course.
Angy's other latest projects are Pyromania - an exciting, collection of limited edition designs developed from her previous couture collections of cocktail, evening and bridal wear., and her REDDRESSBLACKDRESS concept collection developed from her own classic Little Black Dress The first of these was exhibited alongside some of her fan wear designs at London Fashion Week in September 2010 and the full collection including some new couture recycled designs was revealed in June 2011 at Whitehaven Festival. These runs of exclusive designs will be manufactured in England, reducing Angy’s carbon footprint and supporting local communities. The first are now available as 'hand-made to measure' lines through her online 'Prêt-à- Porter' BUTiQ. These will be followed by pret-a-porter designs on her BUTiQ ir through select boutiques n the near future.
New for 2014 will be a range of baby and toddler wear under the label A-Boo, and hopefully a new collection called Romantica. Angy's latest project is to establishing a manufacturing base in Cumbria as part of a co-operative of home-workers/
Spectrum in Four Seasons 2008-2009 (PDF 9.59MB)
Romantique Couture 2008 (PDF 6.79MB)
Following are a few recent press articles about Angy, and her work.
For a comprehesive selection of recent press features with links, and cuttings, plus video clips see: Angy Morton Press Page
Football shirt couture: A sport-fashion fusion
The Independent - Published 12 February, 2010
See:The Independent (Online Fashion & Sport Sections)
The sports-luxe look may be all the rage on the catwalk right now, but few designers are prepared to make sport and fashion such close bedfellows as Angy Morton, whose latest range of couture gowns is made from Premier League football shirts.
The unmistakeable logos, colours and fabrics have been twisted and stitched into classic evening gown shapes, affixed with lace and adorned with chiffon, making them a lot less practical and probably a lot pricier than the original garments.
Russell Brand’s American pop-singer girlfriend Katy Perry titillated MTV viewers when she supported her man’s West Ham allegiance by wearing a saucier version of the maroon and blue strip while presenting the European Music Awards last November.
“Since Perry wore that West Ham strip I reckon a lot of men have been wishing their girlfriends would dress like that,” remarked The Independent’s sports correspondent Simon Rice. If he’s right then it won't be long before Morton’s ‘Stolen Dreams’ collection of 19 couture dresses representing 16 UK football teams is snapped up and strutted in by the WAGs.
Models put on a Strip for Shoppers
The Journal – Published 13 November. 2009
See: The Journal
A FOOTBALL MAD, fashion designer defied some of the top Premiership clubs to unveil her controversial new collection.
Angy Morton hit the headlines last year when she ripped up her Newcastle United top and transformed it into a wedding dress, in protest at Kevin Keegan leaving the club. And the creative seamstress didn’t stop there. Realising girls have nothing ‘girlie’ to wear at football matches to show their support for their team, Angy set-about creating a range of clothes – using only Premiership strips.
In a new protest, at the vast number of home and away strips clubs churn out each year, Angy used strips from 11 other teams – including Toon rivals Sunderland – and transformed them into stunning evening wear. Yesterday, after being told she couldn’t use the logos from either Liverpool or Chelsea in her ‘Stolen Dreams’ couture range of evening wear, she took her creations to the catwalk.
Shoppers in Newcastle’s Eldon Square got a glimpse of one-off pieces as models paraded them round Eldon Gardens.
Angy, who lives in Cumbria and runs her boutique Romantique Couture, said: ‘I am a huge Newcastle United fan and go to many of the matches with my husband Michael, who comes from the North-East.
“Each of the dresses made from Newcastle shirts told a different story in the club’s recent history. For example there was one representing Keegan leaving and another representing Shearer arriving. Each dress told the story of the club whose strip it was made out of.”
Freedom of Expression
Condensed extract from Cumbria Life – Published December, 2008
See the full feature: Cumbria Life (5.2MB PDF)
Fashion designer and dressmaker Angy Morton's latest collection is rich in imagination and romance. Fabric, form and colour reflect Lake District landscapes and classic lines combine with a contemporary, sometimes urban edginess to unique and and occasionally startling effect.
This year for the first time, Angy - whose business Romantique Couture is based in Newby Bridge - has brought her designs to the catwalk at shows, including three wedding events and Cumbria Life's Woman Event in Penrith in October. This autumn, Angy also hit the headlines when she tore up her and her husband Mike's Newcastle United shirts and turned them into a wedding dress following Kevin Keegan's controversial departure from St. James' Park.
The luxuriance and individuality of Angy's wedding dresses and evening wear is in marked contrast to her upbringing in her native country. When the Communist dictatorship was toppled in December 1989, Angy was 15 years old and living in the city where the revolution had started.
"I joined the demonstrators in the main square with my father, ducking bullets, keeping out of the way of the tanks. This had a profound influence on me and my passion for human rights and self-expression."
Angy had many talents as a child, including a flair for dressmaking inherited from her grandmother, a seamstress, and her great-grandfather, a tailor.
"My grandmother first allowed me to use a sewing machine when I was six years old, though I was stitching long before that - she sowed the seeds. She never had a pattern, she couldn't afford them, but she was very mathematical. The designing side is creative but if you don't understand the technical side, you can't do it," says Angy.
At High School Angy specialised in light textiles and dressmaking then, after leaving school, she took a three year apprenticeship in tailoring. She made clothes for her friends and others, starting with skirts then tackling wedding gowns and jackets.
"I'd qualified in tailoring - quite different from dressmaking - but the teachers could see I had a different talent and helped me to do both."
While continuing her studies in tailoring, dressmaking and textiles and gaining a Diploma in Tailoring, Angy worked for about six years as a sportswear model for magazines, travelling as far as Paris. In 2003 Angy set up Romantique Couture and has built up her collections in the past two years, exhibiting her Spectrum in Four Seasons collection for the first time at the Cumbria Life Woman Event.
Among fashion designers, she most admires Vivienne Westwood: "What people wear today wouldn't have happened without her."
Angy's own designs are strongly influenced by the natural beauty of the area. She picks colours and shapes which reflect nature and tries to find materials - velvet for moss, silk for rivers - which are its equivalent. A three-piece outfit called Meltwater - a dress, blouse with hood, and corset - has two main colours: grey-blue representing the rocks as meltwater passes over them, and ivory for the ice. "You have to understand what fabric can do for you or it will never look good." says Angy.
Her business is centred on bespoke outfits- one-off designs or customised versions of the clothes in her collections. The full dressmaking service she offers includes alterations and she also recycles old clothes and sells accessories and soft furnishings. "I will work to a pattern - but I always change the pattern," says Angy.
Soccer Widow? Soccer Bride!
The Naughty Bride's Secret Guide (USA) – published 2 October, 2008
See: The Naughty Bride
The Bride of the Day today is an intrepid dress designer protesting her favorite soccer team’s slump by “tearing” up her jerseys and stitching them into a punk-goth wedding dress. Symbolizing the “love-hate” relationship with her team (not to mention, betraying the progression of sentiments within marriage itself), the dress drew the attention of the Beeb the other day, where they posted these photos.
The Naughty Bride marvels at the simple elegance of this protest. In one fell swoop, this gal Angela Morton is 1) working out her frustrations creatively, 2) keeping Newcastle United’s apparently floundering management in the spotlight as they switch parks and try to sell the team, 3) making us all rethink our commitments, 4) showing herself to gorgeous advantage with a wickedly wonderful Game Day outfit, 5) reminding her husband why he married her in the first place (TNB imagines reenactments of the Wedding Night each Game Night) and 6) brilliantly advertising her business via TONS of free press, blogs and brouhaha. FIVE BIG FAT SMOOCHES!
Gown made from Football Shirts
Sky News – published 1 October, 2008
See: Sky News
They say some football fans are virtually married to their clubs.
Well it is fair to say Newcastle United's relationship with its fans is going through a rocky patch at the moment. 'King' Kevin Keegan, who was hailed as the saviour of the Magpies, walked out of St James' Park last month after clashing with club owner Mike Ashley. Joe Kinnear is in charge on a match-by-match basis, the team is in freefall in the League and a home defeat against Blackburn at the weekend only added to their woes.
Now fashion designer and Newcastle fan Angy Morton has added her voice to the unrest by ripping up her team shirts - and turning them into wedding dress. Mrs Morton stitched the black and white tops back together to demonstrate fans' mixed feelings for the club.
The designer, who runs clothing business Romantique Couture near Lake Windermere, said: "Newcastle United fans have a real love-hate relationship with their team at the moment so I thought tearing up the shirts and turning them into a wedding dress was a good way to express how we feel." Mrs Morton has supported Newcastle United for around eight years. Her Newcastle-born husband Mike has been a fan since childhood.
But Newcastle fans are known for their loyalty - and there is no chance of a divorce from the club just yet
"Many fans are finding it difficult to wear their shirts with pride with the way things are going at the moment, but ultimately there's no escape because they are really married to football and the team," said Mrs Morton.
Put on your RED dress, honey, there's a wedding on
Extract from North-West Evening Mail following the Designer Wedding Show – Published 23 September, 2008
See the full feature: Red Dress (0.6 MB PDF)
It was the bespoke fashions from designer Angy Morton of Romantique Couture which left the crowds gasping - especially the 'Wild Fire' red silk dress. Angy, who is based at Newby Bridge, takes inspiration from the four seasons and the changing scenery of the Lakes in her dress designs.
Fashion designer Angy Morton draws some of her inspiration from the Lake District, where she lives with her husband.
Whitehaven News or Times & Star - Published Tuesday, 25 March 2008
A black lace on silver skirt design inspired by Wastwater and an ice dress, based on an impression of Windermere on a crisp winter's day, are just two of the radical designs she intends bringing to a wedding show in Carlisle on Sunday, March 30
Angy says future brides are increasingly looking to add pizzazz to their wedding dresses. "The idea of brides wearing the obligatory fairy-tale white is increasingly rather dated," she said. "These days brides-to-be are looking for something that really stands out – a genuinely special gown for a special day. I think it's much more interesting to go for something with a splash of colour that will really help you to stand out from the crowd."
The dresses she will have on display at the Live the Dream Wedding Show at Carlisle Racecourse include one with a vibrant pattern of orange flowers.
Angy said: "Flowers are a regular feature of wedding dresses. Although they aren't used as much here, I think a floral pattern helps to make a wedding dress look particularly beautiful."
The wedding dresses will feature in the catwalk shows , together with Angy's bridesmaids' dresses. But as well as wedding styles, Angy turns out a wide range of different types of dresses and outfits as well as handbags.
Dressmaker and Fashion Designer brings a touch of style to the South Lakes and Lake District
Romantique Couture at 'Weddings in Lakeland Show'
North West Evening Mail - Published on 21/03/2007
A local fashion designer based in the South Lakes will be exhibiting her work for the first time at a show in Kendal on Sunday 25th March 07.
Angy Morton who has lived at Fell Foot with her husband since 2004, is putting the finishing touches to seven evening gowns which she will be presenting at the Weddings in Lakeland Show in the Westmorland Shopping Centre.
The designs will be modelled by Vicky Parkinson from Ulverston, two of Angy's young nieces and Angy herself. She will also be displaying examples of her unique handbag designs.
She says: "I wanted to create some elegant and very feminine evening gowns to give people an idea of my styles. My designs have a range of influences but I'm particularly interested in Art Nouveau. Many of the buildings in my home town, were designed in the Art Nouveau style, so it's very much something that I grew up with."
Other influences that can be seen in her work include in particular her use of embroidery and the flowers she uses in some of her designs. She also uses macramé, a form of textile making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting.
Angy got the dress making bug from her grandmother and made her first top at the age of 6. She later went on to study fashion design and dressmaking, selling her first designs, two skirts and some women's trousers, when she was 16.
She says: "For me dress making was like a glove. I used to sit watching my grandmother working and I knew that was what I wanted to do myself. It was the perfect fit for me. I just get so much of a thrill out of the creative process of making something unique and elegant from just a few pieces of material."
After spending a few years helping with her husband's travel business, Angy is now devoting more time to developing her fashion design and dress making business.
She says: "I think it was living in the Lake District that inspired me to spend more time doing the thing I love most. I see something every day that I can use in my designs.
"The flowers in the spring are so beautiful and there are so many different butterflies. These are the kind of natural elements that are often used in Art Nouveau designs.
"The variety of colours I see walking around the area is just amazing. I'm constantly thinking 'how can I make use of that?' It really is something that money just can't buy."
For Angy's press features, and video clips see also: Angy Morton Press Page
LINKS
See also:
www.beyondtheforest.com - for Holidays with a Difference!
www.lakelandbeyond.com - our Lake District picture gallery and information site
We are on
Angy Morton, Fashion Designer & Dressmaker
Webdesign Romantique Couture
Copyright Angy Morton 2014
Webdesign Romantique Couture
Copyright Angy Morton 2014