Helen Storey, MBE,''The Telegraph's Amazing 15: Helen Storey MBE, fashion technologist''
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', London, 31 May 2012. Retrieved on 31 July 2012. RDI,"RSA announces new Royal Designers for Industry"
, " The Royal Society of the Arts", London, 27 November 2014. Retrieved on 19 February 2015.

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

is a British artist and designer living and working in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

.Riddell, Mary
''Interview: Helen Storey''
''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', London, 9 December 1997, Vol. 126 Issue 4351, p.32. Retrieved on 25 July 2012. She is professor of fashion science at the University of the Arts, London''Research Staff profiles''
retrieved from ''

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...

'' website. and co-director of The Helen Storey Foundation. Helen Storey portrait credit John Ross

Background and education

Helen Storey attended Hampstead Comprehensive School in North London and graduated in Fashion from Kingston Polytechnic in 1981.''My best teacher''
''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

'', London, 20 July 2001. Retrieved on 31 July 2012. She trained with Valentino and Lancetti in Rome before launching her own label in 1984.Finnigan, Kate
''Storey with a surprise ending''
''

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

'', London, 20 May 2007. Retrieved on 25 July 2012. Her father is the late playwright and novelist

David Storey David Malcolm Storey (13 July 1933 – 27 March 2017) was an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a professional rugby league player. He won the Booker Prize in 1976 for his novel '' Saville''. He also won the MacMillan F ...

Career 1984 to 1997

Between 1984 and 1995, Helen built her reputation in the fashion world.Lobrano, Alec
''In a Bind Designers strut pullovers, dresses and bodysuits in springy fabrics that cling to every last curve.''
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Los Angeles, Calif, 12 March 1991. Retrieved on 25 July 2012 She was awarded Most Innovative Designer and Best Designer Exporter in 1990In an exclusive extract, Helen Storey charts the rise and fall of her empire
''Helen's fall''
''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

'', Malaysia, 2 March 1997. Retrieved on 25 July 2012 and nominated for British Designer of the Year in 1990 and 1991. In 1994, Storey designed the dress worn by singer Frances Ruffelle when she performed the UK entry in the ''

Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented ...

''. The Helen Storey label closed in 1995, following which Helen wrote and published her autobiography, ''Fighting Fashion'', charting her personal experience within the industry. Published by Faber & Faber, it was described by Sir Paul Smith as... ‘At last the truth – a perfect and witty account of life and British Fashion’.

Primitive Streak

''Primitive Streak''''Alumni at Kingston University, London''
''

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

'' is a science-art collaboration created in 1997 alongside her sister, developmental biologist, Kate Storey. The project, a collection of twenty seven dresses, conveys eleven key embryonic moments which evolve in the first 1000 hours of human life in textile form''Find Your Primitive Streak''
''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.blastula Blastulation is the stage in early animal embryonic development that produces the blastula. In mammalian development, the blastula develops into the blastocyst with a differentiated inner cell mass and an outer trophectoderm. The blastula (fr ...

during these early stages. Initially funded by the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

, ''Primitive Streak'' was first exhibited at London's

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

in 1997Kohn, Marek
''Helen and Kate Storey: science and art engaging the public''
''

'', London. before touring in seven countries, winning two awards and being seen by five million people. The ''Primitive Streak'' project was expanded in 2011 through a new commission marking the 75th anniversary of the Wellcome Trust. The ''White Lung Dress'' explores the development and function of the lungs and respiratory health. The ''Closing Neural Tube Dress'' was commissioned for the 2015 redevelopment of the Wellcome Collection Reading Room."Wellcome Collection unveils £17.5 million development plans"
" Wellcome Collection", London, 24 October 2012. Retrieved on 19 February 2015 Lung Dress Sketch - Jan 2011

The ''Dark Lung Dress'' is a part of the National Museum of Scotland's permanent textile collection.

Helen Storey Foundation

In response to the success of Primitive Streak, Helen Storey and Caroline Coates established The Helen Storey Foundation in 1997, a not-for-profit arts organisation promoting creativity and innovation. The foundation has collaborated with numerous scientists, and has created eight international touring projects, notably ''Primitive Streak'', ''Mental'', ''Wonderland'', ''Eye&I''Maddock, Su (2007)
''The Journey of a Creative Thought Leader''
'' The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal'', Volume 12(1), article 6. Retrieved on 31 July 2012. and ''Dress of Glass and Flame''."RSC collaboration unites science and art at the Venice Biennale"
" Royal Society of the Arts", London, 3 June 2013. Retrieved on 19 February 2015 The Helen Storey Foundation was closed in 2019, but remains as an archive resource for students and researchers.

Other career highlights 2004 to present

Eye&I 2005 to present

''Eye&I'' is a performance-led art installation, that seeks to explore the relationship between facial expressions and emotions. The work was created in collaboration with Professor James Coan, professor of psychology,

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, and has visited schools in South London"Pupils see future staring them in the face"
"

", 16 May 2005. Retrieved on 19 February 2015. and events such as the Manchester Science Festival.

Wonderland 2008 to present

''Wonderland'' was a collaborative project between Helen Storey, the

, scientist Professor Tony Ryan of the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, and Trish Belford of

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

, that examined plastic packaging and investigated new approaches to how it could be reused and disposed of."Vanishing Act"
" Vogue Online", February 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2015."Dissolvable dress height of throwaway fashion"
"

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

", 19 February 2007. Retrieved on 19 February 2015 The ''Disappearing Dresses'' from the exhibition went on to appear at the Royal Academy of Arts, London and toured Europe as part of the Futurotextiles exhibition in 2010/2011. A later exhibition, P''lastic Is Precious: It's Buried Sunshine'', explored similar themes with a focus on plastic shopping bags, and was held at Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield in 2013.

Catalytic Clothing 2008 to present

''Catalytic Clothing'' is a project developed in collaboration with Professor Tony Ryan to demonstrate how a

photocatalyst In chemistry, photocatalysis is the acceleration of a photoreaction in the presence of a photocatalyst, the excited state of which "repeatedly interacts with the reaction partners forming reaction intermediates and regenerates itself after each ...

that breaks down airborne pollutants could be applied to textiles and clothing through the laundry process to improve air quality.Knight, Matthew
''Grime-Fighting garments aim to purify air''
''

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'', US, 4 January 2012. Retrieved on 25 July 2012 The first ''Catalytic Clothing'' exhibition, ''Herself'', featured a couture textile sculpture and was first shown in Sheffield in October 2010 before appearing as part of Newcastle ScienceFest in 2011. It was shown in Dubai in 2012 and toured France in 2013. A second exhibition, ''Field of Jeans'', applied the photocatalyst to pairs of denim jeans, to illustrate how it could be used in everyday life. The exhibition appeared in Sheffield, Newcastle and London, and was developed into ''A Field of Jeans and Kilts'' for the

Edinburgh International Science Festival Edinburgh Science, founded in 1989, is an educational charity. It organises a two-week Edinburgh's annual Science Festival, the world's first public celebration of science and technology, and still one of Europe's largest. Alongside the annu ...

before appearing at Manchester Science Festival in 2012. ''Catalytic Clothing'' was announced joint winner of the Sustainability category at the

Condé Nast Traveller ''Condé Nast Traveller'' was published by Condé Nast Publications Ltd, from The Adelphi, City of Westminster, London. It is a luxury travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), location ...

Innovation & Design Awards 2012.''I&DA winners 2012''
''

''.

Dress of Glass and Flame

A joint collaboration between the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

, the Helen Storey Foundation, University of Sheffield, Berengo Studio and the London College of Fashion, the ''Dress of Glass and Flame'' piece was designed to highlight and perpetuate the chemistry behind its creation and production. First exhibited at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

2013, the ''Dress of Glass and Flame'' has subsequently gone on display at the Manchester Gallery as part of Manchester Science Festival 2014,"Revealed: The exciting line-up for this year's Manchester Science Festival"
"

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

", 3 September 2014. Retrieved on 19 February 2015 Sheffield Festival of the Mind,"From Wonderland to Dress of Glass and Flame - exhibition, talk and film"
. "

", 2014. Retrieved on 19 February 2015 and at Summerhall in Edinburgh as part of The

2014."The Culture Studio with Janice Forsyth"
"

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

", 4 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.

Life On The Outskirts 2014 to present

''Life on the Outskirts'' is a AHRC funded project developed with Dr Robert Knifton,"Kingston wins Creativeworks awards"
" Creativeworks", 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

and Dr Alison Slater,

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

that considers mobilising the Helen Storey Foundation archive to create a digital resource that presents key findings as well as interactions and responses from students, members of the public and project participants.

Dress for Our Time 2015 to present

''Dress for Our Time'' was launched at St Pancras International, London in November 2015, and is an examination of the impact of climate change on human beings. The dress is made from an 'end of life'

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

tent from Jordan and was shown, together with the ''Dress For Our Time'' film at the UNHCR Geneva hosted conference ''Transforming Lives'' on 11 February 2016.

UNHCR Artist/Designer in Residence Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan 2019 – 2020

In 2019 Helen was given a new role within the Zaatari refugee camp of the first UNHCR Artist in Residence. In August 2020, led by the University of Sheffield, Helen Storey and researchers working with the UNHCR were awarded a grant to respond to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

crisis in Jordan. ''People’s PPE: Dealing with a Crisis by Building Livelihoods in Za’atari Refugee Camp'' was funded by

UK Research and Innovation UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ...

through the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the Newton Fund.

Academic life

Helen is part of the team at The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, where she contributes to research, curriculum and enterprise activities.

Awards and honours

Visiting Professor, University of the Arts 1998
Fellow, Royal Society of the Arts 1999
Research Fellow, University of the Arts, February 2000
Honorary Professorship, Heriot Watt University, 2001
Honorary Professorship King's College London 2003
Visiting Professor of Material Chemistry, Sheffield University 2008
MBE for Services to The Arts – June 2009
Honorary Doctor of Science University of Sheffield 2012
Honorary Professor of Craft and Design (DJCA) University of Dundee 2012
Winner of the Condé Nast Traveler Award, for Best Design & Innovation for the Catalytic Clothing Project (Sustainability category) 2012
Royal Designer for Industry, Royal Society of the Arts 2014"Helen Storey: The Adventure So Far"
"

", November 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
Honorary Fellowship Arts University Bournemouth 2014"Honorary Fellows"
"

Arts University Bournemouth Arts University Bournemouth (abbreviated AUB) is a public university in Poole, England, specialising in art, architecture, film, performance, and design. Established in 1880, the university has been ranked Silver and Gold by the Teaching Excel ...

", 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.

Publications

Storey, Helen (1996). ''Fighting Fashion''. Faber & Faber.
Contributor to the ''Designer Fact File'', a guide to setting up a fashion business commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry and the British Fashion Council

References

Science/Art collaborations by Professor Helen Storey
/ref>

External sources

Helen Storey Foundation Tumblr

University of the Arts Research Staff

Centre For Sustainable Fashion: Dress For Our Time
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Helen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British fashion designers Members of the Order of the British Empire Royal Designers for Industry