Vintage-inspired womenswear brand Joanie Clothing has partnered with textile design icon Celia Birtwell for a new collaboration collection.

Her distinctive florals and print clashes have been used by the brand in a 14-piece dresses and tops offer that launches on Joanie’s webstore on 24 July and is priced priced between £69 and £129. 

Joanie’s brand manager Lucy Gledhill said that her label is “well known for creating nostalgic styles that look to the past for inspiration, so collaborating with a print designer as renowned as Celia Birtwell felt like a natural move”.

She called Birtwell “the queen of ditsy florals. A trailblazing titan of the twin print, expertly smushing together complementary colours and playful prints in varying scales, grounds, and clashing styles, always tastefully. Not understated, but also not ‘too loud’ either, creating a look that is consistently synonymous with vintage style”. 

Gledhill also said she’s been a fan of Birtwell’s work for years and that the late 60s and early 70s during which Birtwell came to prominence are a “golden age” for her.

The collection includes the ‘Little Rock’ chiffon dress featuring an Elvis Presley-inspired check print designed in the early 70s; the ‘Mystic Daisy’ flared sleeve kaftan featuring one of Birtwell’s most recognisable designs; and ‘Sunfloral,’ a sheer angel sleeve blouse made using remnant fabric left over from the twin print ‘Golden Slumbers’ dress. Key prints available on some other pieces include ‘Marie Antoinette,’ a romantic print designed in the early 1970s, and ‘Delaware,’ a print that featured on a number of Ossie Clark designs.

 
It’s meant to be a ‘timeless collection designed to be worn season after season, year after year”.

Birtwell is best known for late late-60s/70s design partnership with Ossie Clark and also her status as muse to artist David Hockney. She’s previously worked with a number of other labels, interpreting some of her best-known prints, with collabs like one with Topshop some years ago selling out fast and seeing frenzied scenes as shoppers snapped up every item.