The Fashion Show: Everything But The Clothes

An access-all-areas insight into the world of the fashion show in the pre-digital age. Beyond the clothes being modelled, every element of a fashion show is the result of a conscious design choice. This exhibition peels back the glamourous façade of the fashion show and takes visitors beyond the catwalk into a world of total design constructed by a broader creative community, including illustrators, graphic designers, set designers, photographers, hairstylists, and shoemakers, to name a few.

Drawing mainly on the personal archive of respected fashion writer and editor, Iain R Webb, the exhibition invites visitors to explore a wide collection of ephemera, invitations, and memorabilia from fashion shows including Helmut Lang, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Stella McCartney, Versace, and Louis Vuitton, as well as Webb’s sketches documenting collections from the front row.

Amassed during his career spanning four decades in the fashion industry, these objects demonstrate how the individual can be a collector, interpreter and anthropologist of a particular moment in time. Take a sneak peek behind-the-scenes with never-before-seen photographs from backstage and Fashion Week parties, featuring the likes of Björk, Linda Evangelista, Boy George, Grace Jones, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and many more.

Curated by Iain R Webb, Professor of Fashion & Design at Kingston School of Art, in collaboration with V&A Dundee.

Image courtesy of The V&A Dundee, Scotland, UK.