business allowed Rhodes to create her textile designs onto garments designed by Sylvia Ayton. She produced her first collection showing loose, romantic garments. In 1969, Rhodes and Ayton went their separate ways, with Rhodes establishing her own studio in Paddington in West London. As a freelancer she released her first solo collection. The collection of garments received recognition from both the British and American market. Marit Allen, editor of American Vogue at the time featured pieces of Rhodes’s collection in an issue. Receiving recognition by Marit Allen persuaded high end retailers like Henri Bendel, Fortnum and Mason, Neiman Marcus, and Saks to purchase her collection. Rhodes' own lifestyle proved to be as dramatic, glamorous and extrovert as her designs. With her hair a vivid shade of bright green (later changed to pink, and sometimes red or other colours), her face painted with theatrical makeup and audacious art jewellery swinging from her neck, ears and arms, she stamped her identity on the international world of fashion. Rhodes was one of the new wave of British designers who put London at the forefront of the international fashion scene in the 1970s. Her designs are considered clear, creative statements; dramatic but graceful; audacious but feminine. Rhodes' inspiration has been from organic material and nature. Her unconventional and colourful prints were often inspired by travel; chevron stripes from the Ukraine and the symbols of the North American Indian, Japanese flowers, calligraphy and shells. Her approach to the construction of garments can be seen in her use of reversed exposed seams and in her use of jewelled safety pins and tears during the punk era. Rhodes created handmade evening wear using her unique feminine textiles. Each garment created incorporates different types of feminine style into place. She made her biggest splash in 1977 with the establishment take on punk, which she called Conceptual Chic. She created dresses with holes and beaded safety pins – 10 years before Versace – to form a sort of embroidery, mixed with loosely drawn figures screen-printed on silk jersey, or on the newly developed Ultra suede fabric. When she creates her garments a lot of thought goes into the construction. Simplistic shapes help mould the foundation of Rhodes's garments. The foundation of the shapes, functions as an enhancer that maximizes the effects of her prints. She achieves this look by using techniques including layering, smocking, and shirring. All of Zandra