Charles and Patricia Lester have established an international reputation for their textile and couture fashion. Their collections of evening dresses and gowns are created one at a time in their studios in Abergavenny.
The run-up to Christmas is a particularly busy period for them, but over the last week their team have also been hard at work bringing their fabulous aesthetic to the world of confectionery! As a result, SweetieFest at the Abergavenny Christmas Food and Drink Fair this Sunday (8 December) will sprinkled with a little couture magic.
Debbie at the sewing machine
Patricia says, “For the main SweetieFest room we are making large sweets. Charles’ research into Quality Street sweets worked well! These will be created out of all sorts of fabrics, silk, the ‘silver and gold’ toffee paper kind of cloth and anything that is bright and sweetie looking. We are using polystyrene for the insides to make them really light-weight. We’re also looking to turn walking sticks into spiral cane sweets”
“In addition there will be two fabulous mannequins to help direct people to the SweetieFest room. One outfit will be in gold and one in silver – just like toffee paper.These are costumes we designed for an opera in London. The silver sweetie lady is going to have her outfit scattered with sweets. Fabric for this is in silver and lined with a silk organza. The second toffee paper lady (gold – lined with silk organza) will have a train on the dress flowing down the stairs..”
“We’ve also got a stall at the Fair. We’ll be focusing on pictures (photographs printed on mostly deep canvas stretchers) with a food element: apple blossom, sunflower, lobster pot, barley, brandy barrels, brandy bottles, globe artichokes etc. In addition there will be herb bags made out of our silks and filled with our organically grown lavender, necklaces and other gift-type things from our collection. We will be providing written material to introduce people to the studios and the new gallery that we have opened. More details can be seen on my blog – http://www.guilt-edged.com/.”
Find out more about Charles and Patricia Lester on their website: www.charles-patricia-lester.co.uk They have also adapted their skills for the luxury interior decorator market. More recently they have extended their horizons, working for films and the worlds of opera and television costume design. Their unique work as a couture fashion design team is admired and collected by Royalty and icons of the film and music world.
The Abergavenny Food Festival Blog 