The Barbican’s latest exhibition examines how the word vulgar has inspired fashion choices, featuring historical costumes to couture and ready-to-wear looks.
Spindle Magazine: “this exhibition gives us some visual excitement to stimulate our thoughts and feelings, and to endlessly entertain us.”
The Telegraph: **** “the show’s relentless probing of the hypocrisies of taste nudge at something deeper about how mankind sees itself.”
Culture Whisper: **** “there’s so much to enjoy, so much to covet”
Victoria Sadler.com: “it feels like this show only just scratches the surface of such a fascinating topic. Nevertheless, though the show may be a bit uneven, it certainly got me thinking.”
London Visitors: “Curators, Judith Clark and Adam Phillips have created a highly original and entertaining exhibition about fashion past and present.”
Absolutely London: “What’s ironic about this exhibition is that many of the pieces are beautiful. Yes, colours clash, silhouettes are impractical, and the embellishments absurd, but you can see craftsmanship and creative minds at work behind it all.”
XXY Magazine: “the strongest impression was the ability of fashion, through exquisitely intricate craftsmanship and all its chameleon-like states, to pose pertinent philosophical questions and thus be elevated to a pure art form.”
The exhibition aims to look at the challenging concept of fashion and what makes something ‘vulgar’. It features costumes, ready-to-wear and couture pieces dating back from the Renaissance period all the way through to contemporary designs.
Drawing from public and private collections, the exhibition features over 120 objects designed by leading contemporary designers including: Walter van Beirendonck, Chloé, Christian Dior, Pam Hogg, Charles James, Christian Lacroix, Lanvin, Moschino, Miuccia Prada, Agent Provocateur, Elsa Schiaparelli, Philip Treacy, UNDERCOVER, Viktor & Rolf, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood.
The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined is on display at the Barbican until the 5th February 2017. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=18736