Introduction Pop was probably the most significant cultural phenomenon in the second half of the Twentieth Century. Pop was a broad-based, grass roots culture whose young exponents constantly blurred the boundaries of its primary vehicles of expression and communication; music, fashion and design. These interests had their origins in a popular culture far too diverse … Continue reading Exhibition Archives: Pop! Design, Culture, Fashion
In 2016 The Fashion and Textile Museum presented the exhibition Missoni Art Colour (check out our Exhibitions Archive post on the show here). We recently re-discovered a fabulous video from the blockbuster show, in which Head of Exhibitions Dennis Nothdruft sits down with Time Out to talk fashion as an art form and what curation … Continue reading Throwback: Missoni on Film
An Ode to the 90s - Forever Chic Taking a trip down memory lane, we can see where our obsession with animal print came from. The 1940s saw the print clawing its way into evening wear, in the 60s it conquered accessories and in the 1970s Debbie Harry helped introduce the rock and roll we … Continue reading Volunteer Voices: the Enduring Popularity of Animal Print
The UK’s recent heatwave has seen temperatures in London reach 34C or above for six consecutive days - the longest run of such temperatures since 1961. As this weather breaks, torrential rain approaches and we all reach for our umbrellas, we’ve been thinking about past methods of keeping dry. While the term 'raincoat' doesn’t always … Continue reading Mary Quant: The Wet Collection
Introduction To survive for fifty years in the give and take of the fashion world is no mean feat. To remain an independent spirit, plowing your distinctive furrow while the winds of change swirl about you is an extraordinary one. Dame Zandra Rhodes is one such designer. This exhibition celebrates the founding of Rhodes’s fashion … Continue reading Exhibition Archives: Zandra Rhodes – 50 Years of Fabulous
If ever there was an unlikely career path to becoming a fashion illustrator, it was that of Brian Stonehouse. Long before he joined American Vogue in 1952, the first illustrator to be appointed since the end of the war in 1939, he had lived an incredible life of espionage and incarceration by the Nazis. It … Continue reading Volunteer Voices: Brian Stonehouse
Introduction This exhibition tells the story of a pioneering manufacturer of women’s ready-to-wear and shows off some of the best examples of Horrockses Fashions’ production from the 40s and 50s. Horrockses Fashions was one of the most well-respected ready-to-wear labels of the late 1940s and 1950s. It was established in 1946 as a subsidiary of … Continue reading Exhibition Archives: Horrockses Fashion – Off the Peg Style in the ’40s and ’50s
As one of the world’s foremost interior designers, Tricia Guild has a passionate belief that the way we choose to live has a significant impact on our well-being and happiness. The homes that we live in, the things that we surround ourselves with, and the everyday choices we make, can profoundly affect our outlook and … Continue reading Tricia Guild: In My View
Introduction Kaffe Fassett’s career spans over 50 years in a life as rich and colourful as the textiles and artworks that he creates. His influence in knitting, quilting, needlepoint and mosaic is arguably the widest ranging in the world. From his childhood in California’s Big Sur to his life-changing relocation to London in the 1960s, … Continue reading Exhibition Archives: Kaffe Fassett – A Life in Colour
Designers Guild was conceived in 1970 when Tricia (b.1946) and Robin Guild (1938–2006) purchased David Bishop’s decorating company, based on the corner of Paultons Square and King’s Road in London, an area with a somewhat tarnished shopping ambience. Here they launched Proposals in March 1971, a showroom for contemporary Italian furniture by Saporiti. Meanwhile, struck … Continue reading Designers Guild: The Early Years
