Fashion and Textile Museum Opens

A new addition to the gallery-driven regeneration of London's South Bank, the long-awaited Fashion and textile museum, will open to the public on Tuesday, 13 May 2003. Founded by British fashion legend Zandra Rhodes, the museum will focus on fashion and textiles from the 1950s onward, and will not be your 'typical' museum experience, according to creative director Gity Monsef.

The first show, in which 70 international designers chose their favourite dress from their own archive, is a case in point, as instead of involving a curator to select the dresses, the power was devolved to the designers themselves. Contrary to what was expected, most designers chose contemporary simplicity as opposed to their most over the top, show-stopping numbers.

Aside from two or three exhibits yearly, which can range from fashion to textiles to photography, the museum offers a large archive, a library and research centre, a mentoring programme for young designers, education programmes and community outreach. The FTM is open Tues-Sun 11-17:45; 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF; 0207-403-0222