Charlotte Linton
Parakeet Pyjamas
The parakeet is a ubiquitous symbol in Indian textiles. The Alexandrine parakeet (named after Alexander the Great) and Lord Derby’s parakeet (named after an English politician and naturalist) are named after people who removed them from their natural habitat; in affect being appropriated in a similar way to the Turkey Red motifs. A painting from The Company School inspires the composition of Linton’s Parakeet Pyjamas. A subsidiary of the East India Company, The Company School commissioned paintings by Indian artists in a ‘western’ style to be taken back to Europe as souvenirs. Pyjamas are a garment appropriated from the east and repurposed in the west. However these pyjamas defy categorisation, being suitable for men and women to be worn night or day.
Charlotte Linton is a print designer and illustrator currently reading Anthropology at Oxford. Her eponymous scarf label produces collections that draw inspiration from different global geographies. The scarves each have a strong visual identity that is largely illustrative, colourful, and suggestive of an ongoing narrative, combining hand drawing with digital print techniques. She has worked with designers such as Paul Smith, Hussein Chalayan, and Chloe, and most recently with Marc Jacobs in New York.