www.pineapple.uk.com

The famous brand ‘Pineapple’ is turning 30 this year and to celebrate this well-known and established brand, the Fashion and Textile Museum are showcasing a small exhibition in the Museum foyer gallery. The exhibition will feature key pieces from the Pineapple Archives to celebrate this anniversary and support accompanying events around the pioneering dance studios and dancewear brand.

Pineapple, for those of you who haven’t seen the logo branded across tracksuit bottoms, began as a dance studio. Founded in 1979 by Debbie Moore, a famous model in the 1960’s, Pineapple Dance Studios rooted itself in Covent Garden. The enterprise started with the need for a space to dance, with something affordable and accessible to all. The Dance studio was soon established and became an iconic symbol within the dance industry.

After grounding the dance studio business, Moore saw another gap in the market for original and comfortable dancewear. Dancewear of the period was dominated by nylon lycra resulting in shiny performance wear, generally uncomfortable, bad for personal hygiene and not the most fashionable of styles. Moore strategically approached DuPont in 1979 and collaborated with them to create a fabric which had more breathability, was more relaxed and comfortable and, most importantly, stylish for dancewear casuals.

Moore pioneered cotton lycra, and to add to her achievements she is also to thank for leggings, the boyfriend sweatshirt and the Body – something Donna Karan is often wrongly remembered for. Following on from these designs, she moved on to design more simple cotton lycra dresses, with a simple shape - fitted and floaty. These designs were available to Pineapple students and soon became available to all consumers from dancers to gym-goers and sportsmen, as well as other consumers.

This new found style rocketed in the 80’s and shaped this decade to be what it is remembered for today; leggings, leg warmers, sweatshirts and big hair. The body-con style is still influencing fashion and promises to be seen regularly this season.

Today Pineapple is still an affluent brand throughout the dancing industry and also is popular as casual wear. This decade Pineapple was renowned for creating pink tracksuit bottoms with the brand name on the rear and matching tracksuit hooded top. These styled with Ugg boots has remained stylish to members of a younger generation.

‘30 years of Pineapple’ starts today at the Fashion and Textile Museum and will be on until the 24th of February 2010. Free admission to this exhibition

Opening times
Wednesday - Sunday, 11am - 6pm with last admission at 5.15pm.

Images www.ftmlondon.org unless stated