Decades of Change: Part 2/2

Decades of Change - A Curatorial Volunteer Project by Lawrence Prebble   The Fashion and Textile Museum's Permanent Collection began when Dame Zandra Rhodes founded the museum in 2003. Fuelled by the desire to showcase 20th-century fashion, she placed an open call for pieces and since then, the Museum has continued to collect items and …

Decades of Change: Part 1/2

Decades of Change - A Curatorial Volunteer Project by Lawrence Prebble The Fashion and Textile Museum's Permanent Collection began when Dame Zandra Rhodes founded the museum in 2003. Fuelled by the desire to showcase 20th-century fashion, she placed an open call for pieces and since then, the Museum has continued to collect items and explore …

Glorious Gifts for the Fashion Forward: Part 2/2

Following on from Glorious Gifts: Part 1, we bring you the final installment of our seasonal smashers for Christmas 2023! 3) for the Drafting Devotee An essential, Pattern Cutting: Second Edition isn't only full of step-by-step instructions on drafting, fitting and creating blocks and working with both wovens and stretch fabrics but also comes with …

Glorious Gifts for the Fashion Forward: Part 1/2

Buying for the Sustainably Stylish, a Colour Connoisseur or Drafting Devotee this festive period? Here at the Fashion and Textile Museum, we’ve got you covered this Christmas! 1) for the Colour Lover Heading to our building in Bermondsey? Come explore what's on sale in our fantastic on-site Museum shop! To brighten up the everyday, there's …

Exhibition Archives: T-shirt: Cult – Culture – Subversion

Introduction This exhibition takes a unique position on the history of the T-shirt. It aims to stimulate thinking about fashion as a communicative tool and about our personal consumption and expression of clothing. It also highlights the collecting of T-shirts as a personal archival practice that illustrates how we all own a part of history …

Exhibition Archives: Marian Clayden

Want to learn more about influential women in textiles? Explore our online shop to discover books celebrating the likes of Jacqueline Groag, Shirley Craven, Lucienne Day and Dame Zandra Rhodes. Plus plenty of titles offering tips on how to expand you're own textile and crafting skills! We do hope you’ve enjoyed exploring the Fashion and …

Schiaparelli: Shocking Pink and Shooting Stars

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973), or Schiap, as she liked to be known, produced clothes that were not just beautiful, but whimsical and interesting. She believed that clothes should be architectural; "that the body must never be forgotten and it must be used as a frame is used in a building". Construction was always of prime importance.  …

The Techniques of Chintz

Did you know the word chintz refers to a technique, rather than to the fabric itself? As we look ahead to Chintz: Cotton in Bloom, we thought it would be fitting to explore the techniques used to create the textiles that will be displayed during this exhibition. Origins: From India to Europe The word chintz …

Zandra Rhodes: Couture Tutorials

Ahead of the our up-coming online event, Zandra Rhodes in Conversation, we've pulled together some fabulous videos from Dame Zandra and her team, exploring some of the specialist techniques used to create her couture garments. Dame Zandra's studio and iconic Rainbow Penthouse, located in the the same building as the Fashion and Textile Museum, are …

Half Term: Designing Decades

We want to help learners of all ages keep drawing this half term (and beyond!), so we've compiled a selection a excerpts from our best-selling book, How to Draw Like a Fashion Designer. Written by the Fashion and Textile Museum's Head of Exhibitions, Dennis Nothdruft, the book guides young fashionistas through the whole process of …