Variable Sheets PVC mini dress
Designed by Stephen Willats, London, 1965
T.19-1991

The eight coloured panels forming this dress have zips attached to each side and so can be fastened together in any combination.
Willats comments that: 'I used PVC as I thought this a modern, culturally sophisticated material that reflected the optimism of the mid sixties, and which embodied the idea of future and progress. Variable Sheets was to be worn with a helmet made from vacuum-formed plastic sheet, which extended the concept of self-organisation by enabling the wearer to alter a transparent plastic visor that would turn their vision of the world red, green, blue, etc. I thought that the whole outfit when worn would change the wearer's relationship to people they came across, and in turn those people's relationship to the wearer.'