Fashion Exhibitions: London Edition

The popularity of fashion exhibitions is soaring this summer with a plethora of exhibitions around the world. It seems Londoners have it especially good right now.


The Enchanted Palace
Kensington Palace
March 26-2012

"Kensington Palace is being transformed. As the walls of the palace are being shaken by a £12 million renovation project the rubble and the dust is unleashing powerful and secret stories about the lives of Kensington's princesses.

"The Enchanted Palace reveals the emotion and drama running through Kensington Palace’s history. Contemporary fashion collides with the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection and real stories from the palace to create stunning installations, fashioned by world famous designers including Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Boudicca, Aminaka Wilmont and Echo Morgan."


Grace Kelly: Style Icon
Victoria & Albert Museum
April 17-September 26, 2010

"This exhibition shows the spectacular wardrobe of Grace Kelly, one of the most popular actresses of the 1950s. Featuring dresses from many of her films as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar in 1955, the exhibition will examine Grace Kelly's glamorous Hollywood image, the evolution of her style as Princess Grace of Monaco, and her enduring appeal as a fashion icon."


The Concise Dictionary of Dress
Blythe House, V&A's reserves
April 28-June 27, 2010

"Located within the working store for the V&A’s vast reserve collections of furniture, ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles, fashion and fine arts, The Concise Dictionary of Dress begins with a journey through a turnstile, into an industrial goods lift and up to the first in a sequence of intriguing definitions in a walk-through dictionary of dress…

"Cast objects and photographs, tableaux of clothing and accessories are arranged amongst the rolling racks and wrapped objects stored at Blythe House, the former headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank in Olympia, west London. The anatomy of the building reveals surreal and evocative interventions in unexpected places; metaphors of repression and ceremony; fragments of the clothed body briefly glimpsed.

"Commissioned by Artangel, The Concise Dictionary of Dress re-describes clothing in terms of anxiety, wish and desire, as a series of definitions created by psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and accompanying installations designed and assembled by fashion curator Judith Clark."

Maison Martin Margiela '20' Exhibition
Somerset House, London
June 3-September 5, 2010

"Somerset House is proud to host Maison Martin Margiela ‘20’ The Exhibition, a major exhibition celebrating 20 years of one of contemporary fashion’s most influential and enigmatic designers. This ambitious, multi-layered exhibition captures Margiela’s unique aesthetic and vision, incorporating garments, installations, photography and film. This exhibition was initiated by the Fashion Museum Province of Antwerp and Maison Martin Margiela.

"Young as its history is, no other fashion house has had quite the same impact on our understanding of fashion and its relationship to history, craft, commerce and innovation. 20 years on, Maison Martin Margiela’s radical questioning and rethinking of what fashion is, how we clothe the body and ideals of human beauty, are still as groundbreaking as ever."