Professor Judith Clark, Co-Director of LCF’s Centre for Fashion Curation and MA Fashion Curation course leader, has been involved the curation of a series of exhibitions, displayed at Miami-based boutique Bal Harbour Shops.
The Past, which opens on 8 October is the third in a series of four exhibitions – all of which are designed and curated by Judith, and are part of a wider project celebrating the boutique’s fiftieth anniversary. They explore a fifty-year period of fashion history, design, production, and consumption and are displayed in the shop’s experimental cultural space, Fashion Project.
The exhibition identifies key moments in fashion between 1915 and 1965, and seeks to address the question: Why does the past matter? Starting with the Edwardian era and taking us through to the revolutionary 60s, it reveals many surprising connections and important differences.
“These are such interesting periods” says Judith. “We have items on view such as an Edwardian lace dress and a psychedelic dress made of paper from the 1960s that could not be more different visually, yet they have important parallels. The 1960s in fashion could not have existed without the Edwardian period.”
The pieces on view in The Past are drawn from LCF’s archive, Judith’s collection, and the study collection of LCF Professor Amy de la Haye. The exhibition includes everything from Edwardian lace and embroidery, to work from the 60s by iconic designers including Mary Quant and Courrèges.
The Past opened on 8 October and runs through to 8 November. Following this, the final exhibition in the series, The Anniversary will open on November 12 and focus on the boutique itself – showcasing examples of fashion design inspired by nature, reflecting Bal Harbour Shops’ unique indoor-outdoor aesthetic, from 1965-2015.