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Dazzling Variations. So does the Manhattan husband-and-wife team of Will and Eileen Richardson, whose brand-new firm, Up Tied, is considered the best tie-dyer in the city. Up Tied was conceived only last February when Artist Richardson, commissioned to do a display for Rit, rashly announced that he could make better tie-dye samples than the Rit people had supplied him with. They gave him four days to try. The Richardsons set to work frantically to learn—and found tie-dyeing to be both a simple and remarkably creative art.
First step is putting the material together and tying it tightly in variations of five basic shapes, known as rosettes, bunches, gathers, pleats and marblings. String or dental floss can be used to tie it, but elastic is best, as it is not permeated by the dye and can be easily snipped free. The fabric is then immersed in the simmering (not boiling) dye solution and kept there for a length of time that varies with the material; cotton, for instance, soaks up the dye slowly, while silk takes it quickly. Next, the fabric is rinsed in cold water. The process can be repeated as many as five times, using a different color for each dyeing. Shadings of color can be achieved by boiling in a color remover or stretching the fabric on the floor and rubbing on chlorine bleach (which has to be removed in a washing machine). Dazzling variations can be created by twisting the elastic around the bunched material and using a medicine dropper or squeeze bottle to drop the dye into folds and crevices of the cloth.
Limp and Sensuous. When the Richardsons saw how delighted the Rit people were with their four-day efforts, they decided to peddle their designs on their own. One interior decorator who saw the contents of Will Richardson's sample case suggested that Will drop downstairs and see Halston, the brilliant young milliner and fashion designer. Two hours later, Richardson walked out with a $5,000 order. Halston has designed much of his new collection in Up Tied tie-dyes—even including a group of tie-dyed slouch hats. He loves the medium's "limp, sensuous quality," he says. "The beauty of it is that no two pieces are alike and anybody can wear it—young and not so young."
Halston's tie-dyed young and not so young include Actress Ali MacGraw, Best-Dresser Babe Paley, Vogue Editor Robin Butler and Model Naomi Sims. Film Star Liza Minnelli has commissioned Halston to dress her in tie-dye for her Waldorf opening next month.
Burlington Industries, sensing a developing market, has included four different tie-dye designs in its fabrics this year, and is mass-producing them. Tie-dye prints are showing up in the fabric centers and even in the hosiery salons of large department stores. Whether they come off the kitchen stove, a rack in a chic boutique or an industrial loom, the bright surprises and flowery amoebae of tie-dyed clothes, cushions and wall coverings will be part of the pattern for 1970.