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Keyword

Collecting Sue Clowes

Start Date 15 November 2024
End Date 18 January 2025
Venue The Winchester Gallery
Location Winchester, UK
Curator Shaun Cole with collector Mikey Bean
Two rows of mannequins all wearing a mixture of male and female clothing in hues of black, red, yellow, and brown.
Two rows of mannequins, wearing male and female clothing, in hues of yellow, red, green and black.
Five garments/ textile pieces on display. (Left) red and black kimono style outfit. (Left/middle) brown fabric hung from a white beam with black text printed on it. (Middle) yellow floral crop top paired with a red and white summer blouse. (Right) Yoga pants black and gold.
Three female mannequins on display. (Left) scoop neckline blue summer dress, (Right) right summer dress with scooped neckline. (Centre back) Two piece crop top and trousers in black and gold.
Installation of textiles in hues of white black and yellow.
Nine garments on display in hues of red, black, yellow and white.
Eight garments on mannequins on display in hues of yellow, red, black and grey.

COLLECTING SUE CLOWES

15 November 2024 – 18 January 2025

Textile and fashion designer Sue Clowes’ (b.1957) creations were well known in the 1980s, when her clothes were worn by musicians and pop stars and featured in fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The Face and i-D. Long celebrated by collectors, the renewed popular interest in the 1980s offers an opportunity for wider recognition of her influence throughout that decade. ‘Collecting Sue Clowes’ is the first exhibition dedicated to this landmark designer, and presents her contribution to design and popular culture through the extensive collection compiled by Mikey Bean (b.1967).

After graduating in textile design and screen printing from Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1979, Clowes began selling printed t-shirts, sweatshirts and cushion covers at Camden Lock market. Between 1981 and 1986 Clowes produced a series of collections, all featured in this exhibition, each of which featured the intricate prints that became a trademark of her designs. In 1987 she moved to Italy to work on textile design project at Accademia Italiana in Florence. In the 2010s Clowes reissued t-shirts based on earlier iconic and lesser-known designs and in 2023 collaborated with skate brand Supreme.

Mikey Bean first became aware of Clowes after seeing pop group Culture Club on BBC TV music programme Top of the Pops in 1982. After purchasing his first Clowes shirt in 1983, he began collecting her designs in 2000, buying from eBay, Vinted, ex-staff of Clowes’ studio and an auction of Clowes’ own archive. The scholars Richard Belk and Melanie Wallendorf observed in 1994 that ‘creating a collection is a purposeful act that is closely linked to the collector’s identity’. In keeping with this insight, Bean’s collection is both a comprehensive archive of Clowes’s design practice and a personal wardrobe.

Curated by Associate Professor of Fashion Dr Shaun Cole with collector Mikey Bean

Images courtesy of The Winchester Gallery.