Fool Stories more - I Remember
The Fool "became successful as we were able to survive, doing our own thing through our fearlessness and creativity," Myrna and Ruti
The Past Present and Future. In December 2022 Myrna heard an in-district message on her telephone answering machine. She recognised the voice and called back. Peter someone she hadn't seen or heard from since about the late 1990s answered. He had done silkscreen printing for Trivia and some for The Fool. They met in a cafe shortly afterwards and he sent her some stories from that time. * See end of this page.
We had many women working with us from Pakistan, Bangladesh. In the 1970s they were not wearing veils, their heads were not covered. They were muslims but it was not an issue at that time.Mrs M had 2 children born here. When her daughter was approaching puberty they returned to Pakistan so that the girl would not be influenced by Western culture regarding boys and sex. Mrs M enjoyed mixing with all who worked with us and invited Ruti, and me (and Aury?) to their home for a meal. Most days Mrs M generously brought in tiny bits of delicious home cooking for us to eat.
Most of the stories on this page are from family Laila, Nahem Simon and some of the many people who worked for The Fool, Yvonne, Cleo, Liza, Fran, Jane
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Laila
I remember burying my face in the clothes as they hung in the shop hiding behind them if i felt shy with new people: waiting around a lot for my mother (Ruti) to finish work, hour after hour. Laila - I remember my mother (Ruti) methodically and meticulously laying fabric one on top of the other, layer after layer and the next. Each one in exactly the same place no creases, no folds. no mistakes, no waste. Reams and reams of expensive velvet and velour, ready for the cutting machine. Hundreds of rolls of different fabrics rolled around cardboard tubes, lined up on the shelves against the walls, waiting to be released onto the cutting table shaped and designed for the future body of a waiting woman's curves. Ruti
Myrna and I hitchhiked round the country carrying a bag of samples as we couldn’t afford to pay for a train or bus. We went to the shops that we thought likely to sell our style of clothes and without fail they ordered. We went to look for a red telephone box to call Aury and tell him excitedly about our first order, one of many to follow. We sold to shops all over UK and later on Europe. Myrna
Late payments However many of these shop owners delayed putting a cheque in the post to pay us even though they told us that our designs flew off the racks instantly. We were a tiny business and needed the money to pay machinists. Some of our wholesale customers whilst telling us that our clothes were so popular they had sold out claimed that they hadn’t yet sent the cheque as promised as they were decorating or busy. One said - my husband is under the floorboards doing some repairs that’s why I couldn’t send a cheque. We told them that if we don’t get a cheque in the post in the next few days you can’t buy any more from us. A cheque arrived immediately. Cleo
I did the Fool stall at Portobello Rd and then Aury gave me Camden Lock market. He'd take me there in the morning and we'd set up the stall and he'd pick me up at the end of the day. Then after we left London Jim and I sold Fool clothes at various summer festivals, Hood Fair, medieval festivals etc. And also I did a weekly stall at our local market in Brecon. The thing with The Fool clothes was that people fell in love with them as soon as they saw them and HAD to buy something. They were irresistible. No-one had ever seen anything like them before. Completely unique. I loved those clothes too. Ruti
The Fool's workshop was on All Saints Road known as the front line a place where some Afro Caribbean men traded in drugs mainly cannabis. Every time Myrna and I came out of our door we would be hassled to buy drugs and then cussed if we said no. We were so upset by that that we went to have a chat with one of the local community leaders at the Mangove Community hub and restaurant and said to him. "Hey this is our street just as much as your street so stop hassling us, okay". From then on they respected our straightforward approach and stopped hassling us. The Mangrove was a Caribbean restaurant located at 8 All Saints Road, Notting Hill, west London. It was opened in 1968 by Trinidadian community activist and civil rights campaigner Frank Crichlow. Simon’s story - Simon’s mum, Myrna’s sister Sandra did appliqué for The Fool.
Simon I remember going up to London with mum from East Grinstead. I may have been around 8 or 9 years old at the time. The car ride was always long for me because she listened to Radio 4. I remember going to see Myrna, Ruti, and Aury at their place, then going to their workshop in All Saints Road. Laila, Ruti’s daughter Laila was often there and we'd play hide & seek amongst those huge rolls of material they had.. Liza I worked doing appliqué on the velvet jackets and skirts.
You say Myrna that men at that time felt free to make crude jokes to us. Yes, and yet The Fool (to me ) was a female powerhouse..... the ideas, the inspiration, the innovation, the sheer hard graft, the humour, the bonds of friendship..... all women. A unique and joyous experience for me at least Yvonne
Smoking - mother and lung cancer A lot of the girls smoked. Aury used to have 2 packs of cigarettes always on the kitchen table, I did in those days smoke. I was trying to give up because my mother died of lung cancer the year before, I was desperate to give up. All my clothes stunk of stale tobacco. Smoking was even in hospitals where a lot of people were dying of lung cancer. I did kick the habit eventually and so did Aury. Yvonne - Storytelling at The Fool
Aury’s face would light up when you were talking to him: he would work at every muscle he had to demand your attention especially on a Friday when you were queuing to get your wages. He would tell you some great stories. Aury and also Myrna were part of the College of Storytellers, formed in 1980 to help kickstart the storytelling revival. |
Ruti and Myrna
We started getting hassled by nasty market inspectors on Portobello Road Market. They wanted us off the market. However, we had permission from Woolworth to sell The Fool clothes from an alcove which belonged to them. The alcove was a way in to Woolworth's carpark and only first thing in the morning and last thing at night after the store closed would the back doors of the alcove be opened. The market inspectors just wanted us t logo even though right was on our side. We had a fun creative solution suggested to us from writer Idries Shah. "I can become a share holder of Woolworths by buying one share and then say as a share holder I have no objection to the Fool trading from that space. Or, I can go dressed up as an important person an Arab Sheikh and impress the inspector to allow you to trade there". We didn't try the ideas out.
They were around my age and both carrying large patchwork bags; Myrna with a french beret tilted to the side of her head, Ruti with raven curls running down her back. They had long dresses with ties at the side being pulled in at the back with layers of lace and it looked like their dresses were dyed as well. What finished of their look was the crushed velvet jackets over the dresses. I realised they were fashion conscious," Yvonne
Yvonne and sewing for The Fool
I then moved to Hammersmith in those days to move around in inner London wasn’t a hassle, rents were cheap you paid cash for your room and your wages were in cash every week. There were quite a few workshops in and around Portobello Road at that time it was the in place to be. I loved working for The Fool they were a great bunch of girls. Eileen and I sewing for The Fool would sing all day or listen to the radio. We were so free, all we had to worry about was the rent; we only lived down the road from our Studio as we called it, which was a very small room you couldn’t swing a cat in. Yvonne's - Notting Hill Carnival fire and riot on All Saints Rd Laila
As a child I spent weekends with my mum Ruti and her Sephardi Adenite traditional jewish family, very conservative comfortable home, all mod cons, warm cosy, seemed rich to me, everyone had nice cars and painted nails, hair nicely done, well dressed and nice shoes. cousins seemed to always have what they wanted. My mum made me clothes or bought them from 2nd hand shops. When I was young I had no concept of difference I just went with the flow, content to follow mum and do what ever she did. The older I grew the more I noticed difference, the more I wanted what others had. I wanted blonde curly hair and to be called Sharron not Laila. Fran
I worked with Angela in the shop selling fab Fool gear and doing bits of sewing. How I wish I’d had a camera in those hippy days. Thought I’d never forget, and now I can’t even remember last week! I do remember that we always had a laugh. I can picture Myrna and Ruti at the huge cutting table, and I can smell the dye in the Bath as Vera produced dusky pinks, luscious lilacs and dreamy blues. What gorgeous glad rags they were. Jane
I remember word of mouth had spread about The Fool's unique garments being sold to the continent - Europe. I found this out firsthand when Ruti asked if i could pop in at the shop occasionally, and I'd meet happy shoppers from Germany, Denmark etc.! Yvonne
Aury's job was sorting out the wages for the girls in the workshop and the outworkers. Every Friday at the same time he would go to the bank and draw out cash. We were all paid cash in those days. The queues at the bank would take ages everyone wanted to be paid for the weekend. Aury would count the money putting it into envelopes. We would queue up and wait our turn to get paid. All this happened in the bathroom cum kitchen it was all one room where the dyieng took place in the bath. It was hilarious. There was also an old stove to cook on. In the winter it was so cold as there was no heating in the place, only a paraffin heater. Nahem - I remember the chaos. It was a very half made house.but so multicultural for the 1970s. There were always interesting characters working there, people from India, Arabia, two French Nuns, Africa, Ghana, the Caribbean, Pakistan, Bangladesh and many Irish.
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Encounters from the past made a lasting impression - Silk screen printing stories and more - Peter
* I had already been screen printing dress materials for Trivia for quite some time. Aury and I built a printing table (also used as a cutting table) that would take a length of fabric up to 50 inches wide and 3 yards long on the first floor of a house they rented in Westbourne Park Road, near Portobello Road. It was part of a street due for demolition, to be replaced by a huge council estate. I had already been screen printing dress materials for Trivia for quite some time.
There was an openness and a hugely creative buzz in the house and I was able to print fabric for the business as well as play around with new ideas and techniques involving spraying the dye directly onto fabric. My textile diploma show was coming up and I really had nothing good enough to put in it from 3 years in art college. With one month to go I was able to live and breathe textile painting and design, working what ever time of day or night it was. Aury and Myrna were very encouraging and the textiles produced in those four weeks of having the freedom of the print table gave me the qualification I needed.
This was the time of hand printing being regarded as very fashionable and desirable. The London street markets were flooded with wealthy tourists and I made as much money from a Sunday morning market as I did from a week’s teaching. Peter
There was an openness and a hugely creative buzz in the house and I was able to print fabric for the business as well as play around with new ideas and techniques involving spraying the dye directly onto fabric. My textile diploma show was coming up and I really had nothing good enough to put in it from 3 years in art college. With one month to go I was able to live and breathe textile painting and design, working what ever time of day or night it was. Aury and Myrna were very encouraging and the textiles produced in those four weeks of having the freedom of the print table gave me the qualification I needed.
This was the time of hand printing being regarded as very fashionable and desirable. The London street markets were flooded with wealthy tourists and I made as much money from a Sunday morning market as I did from a week’s teaching. Peter
