Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the role of textiles in history and society. It was disappointing as this was a huge topic to cover and might have worked better as a series of more focused shows on particular materials, eras or geographical areas. In trying to do it all it became muddled. There were some beautiful objects but as the narrative was unclear the labels became very long to describe the item and tie to a topic. It’s a shame as this museum normally presents much more precise shows. Closes 7 September 2025

Fun, vibrant exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the Taboo nightclub and the fashion of the people who went there. The club was opened by designer and performance artist, Leigh Bowery in 1985 with the dress code ‘dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother’. The show started by looking at the club and what those who went wore with sections on each of the designers and shops they favoured. I loved an installation which recreated a night in the club complete with DJ. It then looked at the designers who went to the club including Bowery himself and how their careers developed. There was a fun display upstairs on the pop stars of the early 80s who wore the fashions which brought back a lot of memories and another on the department store Browns which supported a lot if the designers. As with a lot of shows like this the best bit was my fellow punters, many of whom had been there, and literally got the t-shirt.   Closes 9 March 2024 Review Ti...

Fabulous   exhibition   at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the fashion phenomenon that was Biba. Visually the show was stunning with a great selection of clothes laid out in scenes like shop windows. The pieces popped with colour. The display also sought to replicate the look and feel of the shops.   I liked the way the commentary not only talked about the shops trend setting designs but also discussed the business aspects of it including little touches like they always opened new shops in the Autumn to maximise the sale of coats which had a higher mark up. Most fun though was that the majority of the punters were feisty ladies who had been the customers and were telling each other fascinating stories about going and what they bought. I was just a bit too young to go but realised as I looked round how much it had influenced the things I was wearing at the time. Closes 8 September 2024 Review Telegraph

Small gem of an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the relationship between fashion and film with the trend for retro dressing in the 1960s and 70s. I hadn’t known this show was on and got a lovely surprise to find costumes from “The Boyfriend” a film which I loved and which influenced my aesthetics at an early age. As well as the outfits designed and put together by Shirley Russell and archive material, the show included outfits by Barbara Hulanicki, Janice Wainwright and Ossie Clark which used the same ideas. It also talked about the fashion for collecting retro clothes and accessories at the time and I realised I’d been doing that without realising it was fashionable. I had a small collection of items some of which I wore. Closes 8 September 2024

Second part of an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the history of boys clothing. I’d done the first part on breeching a couple of months ago so was pleased to manage to see the second part on sailor suits. Thank you to the lady in reception who let me pop in without paying again as I just wanted to see that one   gallery. Have a look at the detail of the show on my first blog post .  This part looked at the fashion for sailor suits started by Queen Victoria. There were two nicely displayed cabinets one of leisure suits with the traditional sailor collars and one of outfits mimicking officers, possibly made as page boy outfits. I was touched by the story of one suit which had been made by the men on the ship the boy’s father, who was an admiral, was on. Closed 3 March 2024  

Charming exhibition   at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the history of clothing for boys. It’s a topic which doesn’t get covered very often and this show will be in two parts. The first looked at fashion until the 1920s for boys to wear dresses into the age of 3-6 and then to wear trousers or skeleton suits even though trousers were only worn by manual workers until the 1820s. The second part, which I’ll will definitely be going back to, will look at sailor suits. (21 December 2023 – 3 March 2024) The show was based on the collection of Alasdair Peebles which comprises over 1000 items. The suits were beautifully displayed with a background designed by Peebles and the main display was shown like a group of boys playing. All the outfits were in sepia colours which made it look like an artwork in its own right. There was also a smaller display with a boys, a suit for court dress and an ornate skeleton suit. Closed 16 December 2023

Excellent exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the role of textiles in propaganda. It was the sort of show where you go not realising the subject is a thing then get drawn in. It was really well explained with some fascinating objects. From them pointing out that the earliest known use of textiles for propaganda is the Bayeux Tapestry I was hooked! I’m not sure I’d have called all the issues propaganda, some were more commemorative such as dresses to mark the late Queen’s coronation and some of the Second World War items, but I guess it depends on your view point. The show made good use of scarves, which my mother collected, and showed them alongside dresses, prints, textile samples and fans.   I was a bit surprised to be warned about sensitive content before going in. This turned out to be discussion of conflict, Fascism and colonialism. I had to look it up afterwards to see what I might have been offended or triggered by! At little bit OTT I feel. Cl...

Delightful small exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of textile works by Pauline Caulfield. The show consisted of her wall hangings and ecclesiastical work. I loved the Trompe-l'œil effect of some of the hangings such as one like an airmail letter. I was particularly drawn to her ecclesiastical work including an altar frontal and cope. It felt strange but nice to see religious works in a contemporary show. Closes 10 September 2023    

Fantastic exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of textiles by Andy Warhol. I’d expected it to be late soup can stuff but it all dated from when he was a graphic artist in the 1950s and consisted of fun, novelty prints. You could see the start of Pop Art and his ideas of repetition and colour differences in the pieces. There was a nice mix of hanging swatches of material   and clothes made from it. I loved the humorous design of the material, usually of repeated everyday objects. The clothes were simple 1950s shapes which showed off the designs. I loved a skirt with large apples around the bottom and repeat pattern of buttons. I had also booked a talk on the site the curators, Geoff Rayner and Richard Chamberlain, which was fascinating particularly as they were such engaging speakers. They’d basically had an inclining that he’d done this work from a couple of small clues and they have researched it and bought pieces. What an interesting project. Chamberlain did admit...

Dazzling exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of quilts made from Kaffe Fassett textiles. The introduction explained how Fassett formed a collection of fabrics for quilting with designers Brandon Mabley and Philip Jacobs and the exhibition then showcased quilts made with those fabrics. The effect in the space was beautiful and it hummed with colour. There was a mix of patchwork and appliqué work ranging from the tradition to works that were more like paintings. The show was full of ladies who were obviously needleworkers having long conversations about technique which at times made it hard to see the exhibits and read the commentaries. As someone who did patchwork in their youth, and has a couple of half-finished quilts, I felt it was slightly cheating to use material designed for quilting. To me it has been about using up scraps.     There was also a lovely display of Fassett’s needlework cushions which reminded me I’d done a couple which I must dig out ...

Visually stunning but dense exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum on the role of the independent boutique in 1960s fashion and culture. There were some wonderful clothes in this show, reminding me of things I wore in the early 70s, albeit the Ladybird version not the cutting edge one. The downstairs was organised like a shopping street with a display for each boutique and the upstairs looked at some of the themes of the era. I say dense because there was a lot to read. You know I like a lot of narrative in exhibitions and don’t like dumbing down but each section and item seemed to have a small novel written about them. I’m afraid I glazed over quite quickly and just enjoyed the clothes. When you did read the labels there were some great stories. The shirt pictures here was worn by Peter Daltry on the cover of Tangerine Dream’s album “Kaleidoscope” which was shown with it. At the end there was a small display of album and magazine covers which gave a good idea of how influ...

Colourful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of Batik and design work by Annie Phillips. Phillips designs an array of goods from textiles to ceramics, glass and rugs. The show showed some of these but mainly concentrated on large, abstract design batik pictures arranged like a rainbow around the room. I’ll certainly look out for her work. Closes 15 August 2021      

Confused but visually stunning exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the history of chintz, a multicoloured cotton fabric popular in the 18th century. I say confused as I think the show has moved from the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, in the Netherlands so story doesn’t flow so well in this space and the information boards and exhibits don’t always match up. There is a lot about a town, Hindeloopen, which took to chintz in a big way but little explanation of why and how long. However the displays and objects were stunning with a number of complete 18th outfits and lots of children’s clothes as often adult items were cut down to be used by children. There was an amazing show of wide straw sun hats which were covered on one side with cotton. What an amazing this to wear! Also of short bodices called Kroplap a forerunner of the bra worn under a jacket. The show explained the history of the material outlining how it started to come in from India via the Dutch East ...

Exuberant exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum celebrating Zandra Rhodes’s 50 years in the fashion business. The show has designs from every year of Rhodes’s career and was a fabulous display packed with colourful clothes. It came with an excellent booklet which told you a lot about each outfit but it was a bit difficult to read as you went round so it would have been nice to have a bit more explanation in the show itself. I loved the section on how she designed the patterned material she uses which had a hand drawn design, original silk screen reproduction of the pattern card, some printed chiffon and two dresses made from the design.   Also the section on her recent designs for opera and for the film Bohemian Rhapsody, recreating some of her designs from the 1970s. I think my favourite dress was a pink flapper style one from the 1980s which was heavily beaded to catch the light. It had a touch of the Princess Diana’s about it. Closes 26 January 2020 ...

Elegant small exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the life and work of the fashion designer Norman Hartnell. This show brought together a selection of outfits with an array of archive material which covered his time in the Cambridge Footlights where he began designing costumes though to his work for the royal family. It told how he changed the silhouette of fashion three times and included a section on his in-house embroidery room. Along one side of the room was a display cabinet of clothes. I loved a short blue coat with an embroidered sailor collar and a gold evening coat. Among the archive material was one of his day books including appointments with the Queen and Queen mother. Closes 26 January 2020

I nteresting exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of work by illustrator and journalist Elizabeth Suter. Suter covered the Paris collections for British magazines drawing the clothes from memory as sketching wasn’t allowed at the catwalk shows. She worked at St Martins from 1953 -1977 eventually becoming Head of Fashion. The pictures were a lovely representation of the fashion industry of the 1960s and included sketches and well as magazine layouts. They were drawn freely and expressively. Closes 2 June 2019

Nostalgic exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at how designers in London from the late 19040s to 1960s changed the look of the nation. The show focused on Mary Quant and Terence  Conran although it included others such as Bernard and Laura Ashley. I loved the way the show used objects and clothes. Textiles were displayed well and shown like art works. I say it was nostalgic as it was full of things I recognised from my youth and it made me realise my parents were more fashionable that I gave them credit for! I lived near the first Habitat store in Wallingford and it was a regular spot for weekend trips.   I welled up at the sight of the flat pack cardboard dolls house I must have had for Christmas 1968 which my father and a friend who was staying spent all day making for me. I think it had been bought as much for them as me. It even had a little cardboard cat. The clothes didn’t mean so much to me but it was lovely to read that Quant was partl...

Colourful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the work of print designer Natalie Gibson. Gibson worked for Jaspar Conran in the 1960s and taught at St Martins where many famous designers studied with her such as Stella McCartney and John Galliano. All the work on show was saturated in colour. The room was beautifully arranged with a small room installation on one side and designs in a cabinet set out to look like a working studio on the other wall. Both were centred on a lovely portrait of her by her husband Jon Weallens. I loved a quote from her on the wall “My house is full of stuff that inspires me, well that is my excuse for it anyway!” Oh dear she’s just described my flat! Closes 2 June 2019

Glamourous exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the fashion of the 1930s. This is one of my favourite periods in fashion history so I wanted a lot from this show and found it a bit thin. The main themes were covered well with good tableau but I’d have liked to see a bit more on who had designed the clothes. There was good booklet with all the information in to save on labels messing up the displays. It described the clothes and added snippets and quotes about the period however it was a bit large to use as you went round the show. There was some fascinating information in the show such as the fact that this period saw improved sizing which made the selling of clothes in department stores easier. It also looked at the growth of women’s magazines. I’d have liked to see more use of photographs given they are billed in the title but there was a nice room of Cecil Beaton pictures. My favourite tableau was the one shown here representing the Coronation...

Colourful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum focusing on the design work of Orla Kiely.   I like Keily’s work and it was interesting to be led through the design process however it did feel like a big advert for her work. I loved the corridor leading you into the main show which was covered in a patchwork of designs with glass cases with some of the household products from the last twenty years however it did feel like a shop!     The main gallery was hung with huge examples of some of Kiely’s clothing designs. It was an impressive installation but felt like a bit of a waste of this large space. Upstairs was a nice real sized display of fashion which felt quite cramped and might have made better use of the large space.   I did however love the wall of handbags upstairs and wanted so many of them!   Closes on 23 September 2018