This paper presented a case study of the Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection project (2011-13), which has provided unique online access to a selection of 500 of the designer's dresses and garments from her private archive, and an accompanying Open Educational Resource (OER).
The project was led by the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), a specialist art and design university in the south of England, working in collaboration with the Zandra Rhodes Studio in London, with funding from JISC. The designer studied at the Medway College of Design in the 1950s, now the Rochester campus of UCA, and she became UCA's first Chancellor in 2010.
Zandra Rhodes is among the most famous names in British fashion with a career spanning five decades and her work includes the design of haute couture dresses worn by icons such as Diana, Princess of Wales, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Diana Ross.
The project combines the digital curation expertise of the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), a Research Centre of the University Library at UCA, working with students from the University's undergraduate fashion and textile design courses, alongside the internationally renowned fashion and textile designer and her studio team.
This paper will and share the lessons learnt, including: lessons around the digitisation of private archives and public/private partnerships; the importance of the personal touch and the opportunities for filming studio techniques and oral history; as well as the range of work experience opportunities for students from across a variety of creative arts disciplines
