Fashion and textile museum new exhibit

The Fashion and Textile Museum will be paying homage,

this summer, to the impact that music, art and celebrity have had on 20th century fashion.

Entitled Pop! Design. Culture. Fashion, the exhibition will run from July 6 throughout the whole summer; from embellished rocker leathers, the high baroque of Psychedelia, and the kitsch glamour of 1970’s retro, this exhibition celebrates the time when British popular culture first captivated the world.

In the 1950s a new wave of rock-n-roll and youth culture from America swept the country. The mix of popular images and music with art and fashion would change the way people dressed – blurring the boundaries of commerce, culture and style. Between the optimism of1955 and the disillusion of Punk, the ‘Pop' generation created a lifestyle, which reached its apogee in 1966 in ‘Swinging London’, and values, which constantly challenged those of wider society.

Head of the Fashion and Textile Museum, Celia Joicey says; ‘Pop culture is probably the most significant British phenomenon of the second half of the twentieth century. Design was a primary means of expression for the Pop protagonists and we’re delighted to have such a wide range of exhibits, from Britain and America, which show the changes in youth clothing, attitudes and aspirations.’

The exhibition POP! DESIGN • CULTURE •FASHION showcases the influence of Pop culture on several design mediums from 1955 to 1976, including record covers and packaging by Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton, and the work of fashion designers like Mary Quant, Vivienne Westwood, John Stephen and Betsey Johnson, design director of the leading New York boutique of the era.

Curator of the Fashion and Textile Museum, Dennis Nothdruft says; ‘Exhibition highlights will include purple flares worn by Donovan, the pop-art fashions of Mary Quant as well as Quant’s early modernist pieces from the original Bazaar, items from Elton John’s personal wardrobe, and original pieces from Westwood and McLaren’s Sex. The exhibition will provide new insight into twenty years of popular culture from one of the most comprehensive private collections of design and fashion.'