Ironside

Janey (1917). Director of the fashion department at the Royal College of Art in London. Born in England, she studied costume at St. Martin’s School of Art. After her graduation, she opened her own dressmaking workshop. When the department opened, she worked as the assistant to the director Madge Garland. In 1956 she took over as director. A this point she closed her tailoring business. She modernized the teaching methods. She understood the new necessities of the fashion industry — designers were capable of working in a market much larger than that of high fashion ateliers. She encouraged individual creativity and experimentation. David Sassoon, Marion Foale, Sally Tuffin, Ossie Clark, Anthony Price, and Janice Wainwright were among her students. In 1962 she published Fashion as a Career. She was very active in the research for funds for the department. In 1964 she launched a course in menswear. She resigned in 1967 after a clash with the authorities who denied university status to the fashion department alone. She is married to the painter Christopher Ironside.