Advisory and academic roles
Wendy Dagworthy continued to work in the industry, acting as a design consultant for brands such as Laura Ashley, Betty Jackson and Liberty.[5][7] She worked to promote the UK fashion industry, both as a judge of numerous fashion awards and as an organiser of the forerunner of London Fashion Week.[3][7] She became a member of the British Fashion Council in 1996.[4]
In 1989 she joined the staff of Central Saint Martins as head of fashion. During her nine-year tenure, she helped to train designers such as Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Antonio Berardi, Sonja Nuttall and Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro (Clements Ribeiro).[5]
Dagworthy joined the RCA in 1998 as course director and professor, teaching MA students.[11] Two years later, she became head of its School of Fashion and Textiles and in 2011 was made head of the newly created School of Material, incorporating both fashion and textile disciplines.[2] Students trained under Dagworthy include Erdem and Holly Fulton.[2]
Dagworthy was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours "for services to the fashion industry."[2][12] Among her more recent advisory roles are contributing to the 2009 Design Museum exhibition Super Contemporary – for which she contributed a personal 'map' charting the 1970s London fashion scene – and acting as expert advisor to the V&A's 1980s exhibition From Club to Catwalk (2013–14).[4][13]
In January 2014, Dagworthy announced that she would be retiring from the RCA at the end of the academic year.[2][14][15] In May 2014, the RCA held a celebratory exhibition, in tandem with its annual graduate fashion show, to mark her 16 years in the role of head of fashion.[16]
She was featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme on Sunday 2 November 2014; her chosen favourite tracks were "No Woman, No Cry" by Bob Marley and the Wailers and "La Vie En Rose" by Grace Jones, her favourite book being The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott, and her luxury item "a case of red lipstick and a fridge to keep it cool."[17]
