Additional design projects

As well as fashion design Philmore has also taken on projects in costume design, Art, Activism and more.

Here are a few examples

Zikzira Physical Theatre

Zikzira are a contemporary dance company from Brazil but also working in London.

As far back as 2003 their director/ choreographer Fernanda Lippi took a shine to Philmore's work buying up a lot of it to wear throughout the promotional tour for their feature film ' As Cinza de Deus '

Fast forward all the way to 2017 and she invited Philmore to design the costumes for their stage production in Brazil ' Outro em Si '

The production was nominated for 5 Sinpark awards in Brazil including a nomination for Philmore in the category of costume design.

The Oil Slick ( Red Rebel Brigade)

One of Philmore's oldest friends and collaborators from years ago is Doug Francisco of the Invisible Circus . 

When they were teenagers they were in a cross- dressing electro punk band together !!

Doug is also the founder of the red rebel brigade the iconic performers all in red with the whited out faces who began appearing en mass at extinction rebellion protests.

Inevitably as the second wave of protests came around costume requirements were expanding and as a sustainable fashion label Philmore began to collaborate, initially producing a wave of the red plus blue for the oceans and green for the forests.

Then came the idea to create costumes for protest specific to the fossil fuel / oil industry. Philmore devised weighted robes that dragged across the ground in satins, and gloss and wing cloaks that could expand so wide that 10 performers could occupy entire hallways in the British museum but could also be dragged along the ground behind them even soaked in fake oil leaving a trail.

These costumes first appeared at the occupation of the British museum protesting their BP sponsorship in early 2020 with instant impact. The images appeared on the front page of the newspapers and across all Media creating a powerful image to accompany the message.

They have been used repeatedly since at a variety of related protests including at the Bank of England, the Hague, and Windsor Castle and have been adopted by protest groups around the world much as the red was .

This has also had the ironic effect of causing Philmore ( who is notoriously protective of the intellectual property within his fashion designs ) to actively send people around the world instructions and guidance on how to properly and accurately copy the oil slick costume !!

Lockdown Liar flower dress

What did you do during the COVID lockdowns ? 

Just before the world went crazy Philmore was planning some costume for Katie Jane Garside,  a long time friend and singer of Daisy Chainsaw, Queen Adreena, Ruby Throat.

Katie had a new project called Liar Flower and a new album Geiger counter ready to release and was planning to tour. Costumes for this were planned and then the world shut down.

What to do ? Well Philmore continued with the design of the central epic dress , ultimately it was used in the video for the Album's title track as well as these promotional images 

Art Works

These came about almost by accident. When screen printing fabrics in the studio Philmore had taken using up residual ink in the screen by printing onto mood board collages , wallpaper, pattern paper and canvases. he then decided to actually complete these pieces with paint , inks and all manner of mixed media so they could be used as display around the clothing they related to.

Although it was not their original purpose customers started asking to buy them and curators started asking to display them in galleries.

Some hung in JM gallery in Portobello road and then in May 2024 Philmore was invited to contribute a piece to the 'Every Breath We Take' exhibition.

 For this a large scale canvas was done featuring all manner of relevant imagery

Work at ' Every Breath We Take ' Exhibition 2024 

Assorted displayed works on canvas .

One in Six Knitwear

Kept it quiet for assorted reasons but this little project for community benefit worked out quite nicely and ultimately people found out !! 

Every winter Philmore does a range of knits made from wildly deconstructed jumpers and scarves etc creating long crazy wrappable and adjustable pieces with multiple pockets.

As well as being a style statement these pieces are incredibly warm, like being wrapped in a duvet.

When wearing his personal one out and about Philmore was getting compliments everywhere including from homeless people he'd encounter on his commute......... this sparked an idea :Not all of the deadstock and used knits cut up for material could be used for making the shop ones due to too many flaws etc so why not use those to make a less glamourous, less elaborate, pared down, but no less warm variation and gift it to homeless people to help them survive the British Winter.

A bit of a calculation revealed that every 5 sold made it financially viable to make and give out one of the free ones and so the " One in Six " project began