There are many fashion exhibitions in 2022. These include Alber Elbaz’s Paris Fashion Week tribute, which will be given the museum treatment in Paris, to menswear in London, an ongoing celebration of American fashion, and a retrospective of Gianni Versace, the Dutch fashion designer who died in 2022. We have compiled a list of seven must-see exhibits that will open in 2022 to help you plan your next show.
Palais Galliera will host Alber Elbaz’s tribute catwalk show, ‘Love Brings Love’
The AZ Factory ‘Love Brings Love’ catwalk tribute to Alber Elbaz, held during Paris Fashion Week October 5, is being transformed into an exhibition at Paris’s Palais Galliera fashion museum.
The tribute exhibition will be open from March 5th to July 10th 2022. It will include 45 fashion houses and designers who created “bespoke creations inspired by Alber’s legacy or an exclusive take on an iconic silhouette,” such as Alexander McQueen and Balmain.
Alexandre Samson will curate the one-of-a kind exhibition that will allow visitors to experience the complete catwalk experience. It will recreate the show’s alphabetical order, as well as the effects, music, and lights. This is to honor the late fashion designer Alexandre Samson, who died in April just after the launch his first collection for his new venture AZ Factory.
V&A shines a light on menswear 2022
The V&A Museum in London is opening its first major menswear exhibition, .’Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, featuring looks by Harris Reed, Gucci, Grace Wales Bonner, Rick Owens, JW Anderson, Comme des Garcons, Raf Simons, and Craig Green.
The exhibition will be open from March 19th to November 6th 2022. It will feature around 100 designs by fashion’s most renowned designers and rising stars, as well as 100 historic treasures and acclaimed artifacts.
The three galleries will display the exhibition thematically. It will show how menswear has been constructed over time and how artists, designers and tailors have performed it.
The show aims to highlight masculinities from all eras, from the Renaissance to the present day. It also features familiar faces wearing the same outfits. It will feature looks by Harry Styles and Sam Smith, as well as Marlene Dietrich and Billy Porter. These outfits celebrate and highlight the many possibilities of masculine sartorial expression, going beyond the binary.
Rosalind McKever and Claire Wilcox, co-curators of “Fashioning Masculinities” stated in a statement that: “Masculine Fashion is experiencing an unprecedented period of creativity. It has been an effective tool for encouraging conformity and expressing individuality for a long time. This is not a linear or definitive past, but a journey that spans time and gender.”
The exhibition will feature both historical and contemporary looks, as well as art that shows how masculinity has been done. It will be a celebration for the masculine wardrobe and all are welcome to participate.
The Royal Collection celebrates Queen’s platinum anniversary
In 2022, The Queen will celebrate her historic Platinum Jubilee with three special displays marking significant occasions in Her Majesty’s reign, the Accession, the Coronation and Jubilees, at the official royal residences in the UK, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The Platinum Jubilee will see The Queen’s Accession at the Summer Opening at Buckingham Palace. It will feature portraits of The Queen taken in 2022 by Dorothy Wilding and personal jewellery of Her Majesty worn during the portrait sittings. The Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara will be included in this event. It was given to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck by King George V as a wedding gift.
The Platinum Jubilee: Queen’s Coronation Exhibition will be at Windsor Castle, July 7 through September 26, 2022. It will feature the Coronation Dress, Robe of Estate, and Robe of Estate, designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, British couturier.
From July through September, the final exhibition at Palace of Holyroodhouse will feature outfits worn by Her Majesty during celebrations of the Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees. This exhibition will feature the pink silk crepe, chiffon and coat designed by Sir Hardy Amies, royal couturier, for Queen’s Silver Jubilee 1977. It will also include Simone Mirman’s matching hat with flowerheads suspended from silk stems.
London to host ‘Africa Fashion’
London’s V&A Museum will celebrate the “irresistible creativity, ingenuity and unstoppable global impact of contemporary African fashions” with a major ‘Africa Fashion’ exhibition opening in June 2022.
Dr Christine Checinska is the new curator at the museum of African and African Diaspora Fashion. The exhibition will highlight the vibrancy and innovation of Africa’s vibrant fashion scene and explore how music, visual arts, and other forms of art are a crucial part of Africa’s cultural revival.
From June 11, 2022 to April 16, 2023, “Africa Fashion” will feature more than 250 objects. These items are drawn from the personal archives and collections of some of the most influential and mid-twentieth-century African fashion designers, including Shade Thomas-Fahm and Chris Seydou.
V&A’s curator for African and African Diaspora Fashion, Dr Christine Checinska said that the exhibit would present African fashions, a self-defining art form, which reveals the richness of African history and culture.
It would be impossible to showcase all fashions in such a large region. Africa Fashion will instead celebrate the innovation and vitality of a select group of fashion creatives. It will explore the work of the vanguard of the 20th century and the creatives who are at the core of this diverse and cosmopolitan scene. We hope that this exhibition will inspire a change in the fashion industry’s geography and be a game-changer.
The Costume Institute maintains its focus on American fashion
The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, opens the “second part” of its exhibition dedicated American fashion on May 7, 2022 in the American Wing period rooms
Part two, In America: An Anthology of Fashion will examine the history of American fashion. It will present narratives that deal with the complicated and multilayered history of these spaces. These narratives include stories about women’s and mens’ historical and current dress from the 18th century through the present.
In collaboration with American film directors, there will be a series three-dimensional cinematic freeze frames. These mise-en scenes will examine the role of clothing in shaping American identity, and the complicated and multilayered histories of the rooms.
Both exhibitions will be open until September 5.
Design Museum celebrates Bethany Williams
London Fashion Week designer Bethany Williams is to be celebrated by the Design Museum in spring 2022 with a new exhibition embracing the discussion of social and environmental issues. This free exhibition will focus on Williams’ work that is socially and environmentally conscious. It will include pieces made from community projects and items made from recycled materials.
The exhibit will also feature work by the London-based designer who was part of the Emergency Designer Network that created PPE during the pandemic.
Groninger Museum will present a retrospective on Gianni Versace
The Groninger Museum has called Gianni Versace one of fashion’s “most influential couturiers”. This exhibition will be the focal point of the “Gianni Versace: Retrospective” exhibition. It will run from December 2, 2022 to May 7, 2023.
It will feature Versace’s iconic designs and showcase his outfits.
All items are original pieces from private collections. They were curated by Saskia Lubnow and Karl von der Ahe, Versace experts.
