`Young designers are re-drawing the hemline, any line, and not always with a ruler,' said Vogue in its assessment of the new cotton softwear in 1984. Bodymap were a breath of fresh air in the early 1980s, mixing stretch forms, ribbing and graphic patterns by textile designer Hilde Smith.
Holah and Stewart met at Middlesex Polytechnic, progressed to a stall in Camden Market and graduated with first-class honours. Heavily influenced by the Japanese avant-garde and Vivienne Westwood, their 1984 show, with its bare breasts and skullcaps, prompted the Daily News Record to question whether it was `an outrageous pretension or merely a pretentious outrage'. The press went crazy. Buyers bought in droves. Bodymap held a `Survival in the Fashion World' party in 1989. Unfortunately, what it really needed was a creative accountant and sympathetic backer - the business folded in 1991.