Helen David was born in Brighton. After her A-levels, she moved to London and gained a first-class honours degree at Camberwell School of Art and Crafts, where she studied textiles and fine art print-making. She then studied fashion as a post-graduate at the famous Central St. Martin’s College of Art.

The design label English Eccentrics was founded in 1983 by Helen, her sister Judy Purbeck and friend Claire Angel. This internationally renowned fashion house specialises in hand-printed and hand-embroidered eveningwear and scarves. In 2000 Helen won the Glamour Award during London Fashion Week.

Her interest in fine art continued throughout her fashion career and in 2001 she took time out from her business in order to concentrate full-time on art. Friends and Icons, Helen’s first one-woman art exhibition, opened at the Space Gallery in Belgravia, London in October 2003, the curator was Laura Parker-Bowles. Immortals, her second show, opened in 2005. Her work is in the private collections of such people as Simon Fuller and Toyah Willcox.

Going back to her first love, Helen reopened English Eccentrics in 2006; adding an interior design line to her clothes and accessories ranges. She now works out of a studio in a Kentish Town and online selling has become a major part of her business.

Helen’s fashion/textile work is in permanent collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum of London and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Books

English Eccentrics, the Textile Designs of Helen Littman (Phaidon, 1994).

Links

Helen David's website

English Eccentrics website