Dedicated followers of fashion: Northallerton care home residents celebrate London Fashion Week

From the Swinging Sixties, typified by Mary Quant, Ossie Clark and Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba, through to Vivienne Westwood’s punk provocations and Alexander McQueen’s dark and dramatic visions, London has a long legacy of producing extraordinary design but the first London Fashion Week didn’t take place until 1984.

Staff and residents at Mount Vale Care Home used London Fashion Week as a great excuse to talk about what fashion means to them and to reminisce about different outfits they had worn over the years.

They swapped photos of their favourite outfits, talked about clothes they had made themselves or that they had bought or had made for special occasions. They watched some catwalk shows from London Fashion Weeks past and present and picked out which were their favourite designers and those they weren’t so keen on! Staff and residents then took part in their own cat walk, modelling beautiful dresses, fun outfits including Banana Man.

General Manager, Trudi Gillespie said: “Our residents loved talking about their favourite outfits from over the years, where they got their clothes from and how much they cost. Clothes are such an important part of an occasion; it was wonderful to see our residents’ photos from significant events in their lives and to talk about what everyone wore at that point in time.”

Margarita a resident at Mount Vale care home commented: “I have always loved clothes and keeping up with the latest trends. I used to make my own outfits when I was younger, I had a little sewing machine and I would look at what the models were wearing in the fashion magazines and run myself up something similar to wear to the dance!”

Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.

Mount Vale care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Mount vale provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 62 residents from respite care to long term stays.