Fashioned from Nature (Touring)

A dress woven from plant roots, bird head earrings from 1875, and Emma Watson’s Calvin Klein dress made from old plastic bottles. These are some of the beautiful, inspiring and disturbing objects that the audience will meet in the critically acclaimed exhibition Fashioned from Nature , developed in collaboration with the V&A in London and currently on display at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen.

The exhibition explores the complex relationship between fashion as well as examining how the fashion industry takes both resources and inspiration from nature. Exclusive costumes from the V&A are exhibited alongside objects from the Natural History Museum of Denmark’s own collections, providing a fascinating insight into how man has always been using nature’s beauty to decorate himself. At the same time, the fashion industry’s negative impact on nature and the environment has been increasing, and it is now so massive that the industry is one of the most polluting on the planet. An important aspect in current exhibition:

– We equally want to inspire and to give everyone the opportunity to understand and care for the diversity of nature. It is our most important task as a natural history museum, and exactly what Fashioned from Nature does, says Professor Peter C. Kjærgaard, museum director at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

The exhibition shows the growing scale of the fashion industry from around 1600 to the present, its impact on nature, and the work of activists, environmentalists and designers today to make a more responsible fashion industry. It is the first exhibition that deals with fashion and sustainability in such a broad historical framework. At the same time, it supports the Natural History Museum of Denmark’s endorsement of the UN Sustainability Goals.

Touring:

V&A Museum, London, 21 April 2018 – 27 January 2019

Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen,13 April – 1 September 2019

Image courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Denmark