Debbie Wingham is a world-renowned fashion designer and multimedia artist. She started her career in haute couture and has gone on to explore a multitude of art forms and materials over the years, becoming famous for creating a series of the world’s most expensive items, including objets d’art, shoes, dresses, accessories and even cakes. She made the transition into the world of fine art in 2021 and her first showstopping collection of ‘Drip Bag’ sculpture has grown out of her passion for fashion combined with her love of social commentary and sense of humour.
 
Against the shifting backdrop of the fickle world of fashion, very few items achieve classic status - even surviving more than one season is a rarity – but in the 1980s when Hermès introduced their Birkin Bag, the stars aligned and the most iconic accessory of all time was born. The bag has been reinvented many times and has transcended its status as a fashion item, becoming a popular cultural trope.
  
When Debbie Wingham created her first Birkin-inspired ‘drip bag’ it was intended as a one-of-a-kind piece in solid gold, but she soon saw the potential for a diffusion range. Influenced by her admiration for a whole range of art from the Italian renaissance to Salvador Dali as well as her love of fashion, she fused traditional and contemporary elements and added, she says, ‘a soft touch of sarcasm’.

Biography and work by Debbie Wingham