The V&A has announced its new exhibition Fashioned from Nature – an exhibition that will trace the complex relationship between fashion and the natural world since 1600 – and Dilys Williams, Director of LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion, has collaborated in the capacity of special advisor.
Cape of curled cockerel feathers, Auguste Champot, France, ca. 1895 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Co-created with LCF’s 4Fashion Arts Programme, and with help from the Digital Learning Lab at the College, it will show how fashionable dress always draws on the beauty and power of nature for inspiration, with exquisite garments and accessories from Christian Dior, Dries van Noten and Philip Treacy to name a few. Unearthing fashion’s processes and constant demand for raw materials damage the environment, featuring campaigners and protest groups that have effectively highlighted this issue such as Fashion Revolution and Vivienne Westwood. It will also look at the role of design in creating a better, more sustainable fashion industry.
Outfit made from leather off-cuts and surplus yarn, Katie Jones, 2017 Photograph by Rachel Mann
LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion will present two interactive installations which explore Fashion Now and Fashion Future. ‘Fashion Now’ will take five iconic contemporary fashion pieces and using sensors, visitors will be able to explore the unseen impact on nature of the construction, making, wearing and discarding of each item. ‘Fashion Future’ will immerse viewers into the fashion world of the future, inviting us to question what fashion means and show us a future we are yet to imagine.
The exhibition opens in April 2018 and will feature a series of activities around it. Stay tuned to LCF News where we will keep you posted on the exhibition.