Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion

Fantastic exhibition at Charleston in Lewes on fashion and the Bloomsbury Group.

It went through the main characters looking at the clothes they wore and what those clothes said about them. I loved that it gave equal weight to the men and women as often men get left out of shows about clothes.

They made good use of portraits, many of which I’d not see before, as well as their writings. The title is a quote from a letter by Vanessa to a guest meaning they wouldn’t be dressing for dinner.

A particularly brilliant loan was some of the wardrobe of Ottolline Morrell from Fashion Museum in Bath.

Alongside the history the show also looked at how the group were influencing modern designers with wonderful displays of their work. As I was there on opening night, a number of the designers were in the show standing with their work.

I can’t wait to go back on a quieter day and take in more of the detail. Just one moan though,  please can we have bigger typeface on the labels particularly those at ground level. Even bending down I struggled to read them!

Closes 7 January 2024


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Comments

Jane Read said…
An exhibition I’d love to see but time and logistics probably won’t allow it. I remember with great pleasure when the Friends of Charleston visited Bath to see some of Ottoline Morrell’s clothes, housed in the Fashion Museum in Bath.
28 October, 2023
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