Fashion Update: Celebrating convict chic

THE image of the convict in his stripy shirt will never be the same after the Keyhole Clothing Project is launched during London Fashion Week. Although inmates of Full Sutton prison near York will not be able to attend the show, their designs will be modelled in London and then taken to be shown in New York, Paris and Los Angeles.

The collection is the brainchild of Red or Dead's co-founder Wayne Hemingway, who was invited to a fashion show put on by the Keyhole project last November. Hemingway was so impressed with the workmanship, he is now treating the project like any other company. All the clothes will be made by staff and inmates at the prison and any earnings will go back into the project.

Red or Dead collections are always humorous. Previous themes include the miners, Stanley Green (who, until his recent death, used to walk up and down London's Oxford Street with a banner saying 'Less passion from protein') and Carry on Camping.

The collection of no-nonsense womenswear is made in unwashed denim. Dungarees are unpicked to make skirts, jackets are shrunken and trousers have turn-ups. 'It is a tomboy rebel look,' says Red or Dead's Graham Losey. The clothes will be available at Red or Dead outlets from May, priced between pounds 35 and pounds 65.

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