Global Threads: Asian Textiles and Fashion Today

Young people from Preston are currently working as curators, researchers, designers and stylists to create an amazing new fashion exhibition at the Harris as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad celebrations.

Global Threads is based on a set of historic fabric samples called The Textile Manufactures of India. This 18 volume set was given to Preston in 1866 and it includes 700 fabrics from across South Asia. Many of the textile patterns, materials and techniques found in these books are still in use today. Global Threads brings together historic South Asian textiles with contemporary fashion to reveal that even the latest fashions reflect global textile culture.

Global Threads is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme Stories of the World which presents exciting new museum exhibitions across the UK, created by young people. The Harris Museum & Art Gallery is one of six venues across the North West of England taking a fresh and often radical look at the region’s rich textile heritage.