X Harness — Snakeshead in Blue (William Morris)
X Harness — Snakeshead in Blue (William Morris)
William Morris's Snakeshead, 1876 — the Morris archive's most chromatically ambitious print. Scarlet bell-shaped fritillaries on deep navy, with a chequered detail inside each bell that rewards a closer look. As an X Harness in the Alpha 30 Archive.
Snakeshead is the Morris archive at full saturation — a multi-colour print on cotton, with scarlet bell-shaped fritillaries dominant against a deep navy ground, ochre scrolling foliage carrying the connective register, and pale-green smaller leaves and grey-blue tendrils filling the field. The X silhouette catches the print on the diagonal across the chest — the most graphic silhouette in the archive, where the bell-shaped fritillaries run across the body's lines rather than aligning with them. Red stitching pulls from the print's own scarlet palette. The chequered detail inside each bell — the visual reference to the snake's-head fritillary that the design is named for — resolves on the wearer's closer look. Sourced from Dalston Mill Fabrics in Hackney; one of three Snakeshead pieces in the Alpha 30, the second H/X/Y trio in the Morris collection alongside Willow Bough Azure.
Specifications
| Fabric | William Morris Snakeshead (Blue) — multi-colour print on cotton (polycotton) |
| Origin | Dalston Mill Fabrics, Hackney, London (Morris design archive's commercial range) |
| Stitching | Red thread from G and A Haberdashery, Queens Market — pulled from the print's own scarlet palette |
| Hardware | Silver — rings and buckles from F Martin & Son; rivets and eyelets from Trimming Shop |
| Construction | Hand-finished in East London at the Harnessed LDN studio, sewn on a Singer Heavy Duty 4423 |
| Weight | ~0.45 kg |
Sizing
Adjustable across a 34–50 inch chest. Universal sizing across the Alpha 30 Archive — broader than most fashion harnesses cap at.
Care
Spot clean only. Hand care preferred. Do not machine wash.
Once this is sold, this exact configuration — Snakeshead in red stitching, silver hardware on an X Harness — won't be reproduced. Future drops may revisit the print with different finishes; this combination exists once.