What Exhibitions Does 2022 Have in Store For Us?
Whilst we started last new year with a lot of uncertainty and anxiety due to a third lockdown, we can only be grateful that, despite still living in times where Covid is still a big part of our lives, we have more to look forward to than we did one year ago. The fashion industry has a mix of physical and digital events due to Covid, as there are now a lot of fashion shows going digital. However, there are several fashion exhibitions that we are particularly intrigued by that can educate and inspire us.
Although there is just a few days left to visit this exhibition with it ending on the 16th January, the ‘In Love With The World’ exhibition by Anicka Yi at Tate Modern is a thought-provoking display which showcases floating jellyfish machines inside the Turbine Hall at the museum. Around the hall there are battery-powered aerobes, a mix of bulbous and transparent tentacled objects hovering that include inspiration from the different periods in the history of Bankside by being filled with changing scentscapes designed by the Korean-based artist.
London’s Fitzrovia Chapel is hosting the exhibition which is open to visit until 6th February celebrating artist Leigh Bowery’s life and work; the venue itself is where Leigh passed in 1994 being the only remaining building of the Middlesex Hospital. Leigh is known for many things, particularly his shock factor through his extreme creations which he would wear to model for renowned painter Lucian Freud where they would eventually become close friends. The performance artist, designer, director, model, and club promoter had his work referenced by designers like Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo. Bowery’s greatest looks as well as a short film including interviews with some collaborators like Boy George, Les Child, Richard Torry, and more will be showcased at the exhibition. Nicola Bateman, who married the artist not long before his passing, has worked closely with the Fitzrovia Chapel as part of the Leigh Bowery Estate to produce the exhibition with his iconic looks being presented against the chapel’s gold mosaic ceilings and marble walls.
The Design Museum is currently holding the ‘Waste Age’ exhibition until 20th February to showcase how designers are reimagining our fashion waste by transforming it into something new and valuable to represent a circular economy and a future of clean materials to potentially lead the way out of the Waste Age. Visitors to the exhibition can see furniture made from plastic waste and carbon negative fashion as well as installations that reflect the impact of waste and why such innovations need to exist. Stella McCartney, Formafantasma, Fernando Laposse, Bethany Williams, and Phoebe English are some of the visionary designers whose work to reinvent society’s relationship with waste can be explored at the exhibition.
As well as this, Thierry Mugler’s Couturissme which started on 30th September and runs until 24th April this year is held at The Musée des Arts Décoratifs to showcase the designer’s work from ready-to-wear and haute couture silhouettes to stage costumes, photographs, films, and unpublished archives between 1973 to 2014. This fabulous exhibition is one of our favourites here at Scarlet Destiny, and reflects the many projects of Mugler through various atmospheres, such as the aquatic opening theme, the George Michael music video for ‘Too Funky’ directed by the designer, a room dedicated to his photographic achievements, and plenty more. Couturissme truly captures the innovative designer and just how adaptable he was, especially at the time of his creations, and dedicates two floors of the venue to the creator.
Vivienne Austin, Scarlet Destiny’s founder, gains inspiration from the Helmut Newton Foundation located in Berlin which she visited a couple of years ago. There is currently an exhibition ‘Helmut Newton Legacy’ held at the Museum of Photography dedicated to the Berlin-born photographer which opened on 31st October and will end on 22nd May this year. Helmut Newton’s life and visual legacy is displayed chronologically on the first floor of the museum, featuring approximately 300 works with half of these being showcased for the first time. The photographer’s work is presented by Matthias Harder, the foundation’s curator, which includes Newton’s more unconventional fashion images from over the years. Polaroids and contact sheets are included in the presentation to demonstrate the photographer’s creation process, in addition to the publications, archival material, and quotes from Newton.
In addition to this, London’s V&A Museum will be presenting its first major menswear exhibition from March 19th-November 6th, ‘Fashioning Masculinities’: The Art of Menswear’, which will showcase looks by Comme des Garcons, Craig Green, Grace Wales Bonner, Gucci, Harris Reed, JW Anderson, and Raf Simons. Approximately 100 looks from legendary designers and rising stars will be showcased as well as 100 historical treasures and acclaimed artworks to celebrate power, artistry, and diversity of masculine garments. Three galleries will reflect how menswear has transformed over so many years and will reveal the way designers, tailors, and artists and their clients and sitters have assisted in this change. The exhibition plans to reveal various possible masculinities from periods like the Renaissance to the global contemporary: looks from Billy Porter, Harry Styles, and Sam Smith to represent today’s attire will be included as well as David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich to express garments from a different period.
We’d love to hear of any events you are looking for as these are some of our favourites – what exhibitions do you hope to visit this year?
(Information sourced by: londontheinside.com,eventbrite.co.uk, thetimes.co.uk, designmuseum.org, madparis.fr, helmut-newton-foundation.org, fashionunited.com)