Vivienne Westwood retrospective to open at The Bowes Museum in March
A large-scale exhibition will explore the legacy of one of Britain’s most provocative and imaginative designers
The Bowes Museum will host a major retrospective of Vivienne Westwood’s work this spring, bringing more than four decades of the designer’s output to County Durham.
Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary runs from March 28 to September 6 and focuses on designs produced between the early 1980s and the 2000s.
The exhibition will feature more than 40 ensembles alongside individual garments, jewellery, accessories and archival material drawn primarily from the collection of Peter Smithson. Additional loans will come from Manchester Art Gallery, Fashion Museum Bath and private collectors.
Staged across the museum’s Fashion and Textiles gallery and main exhibition space, the show will examine both the aesthetic and technical aspects of Westwood’s practice. The Fashion and Textiles gallery will be arranged to evoke a working atelier, with calico toiles and garments digitally deconstructed by Northumbria University’s Fashion Department to demonstrate her construction techniques, including bias cutting, pleating, screen printing and fabric distressing.
In the main gallery, the exhibition will adopt a chronological approach, with Westwood designs laid out from the mid-1980s to the protest garments from the early noughties. T-shirts and corsets will adorn the walls alongside paneling, paintings and mirrors from The Bowes Museum’s collection.
More than 80 historic objects from The Bowes Museum’s own collection will be shown alongside Westwood’s designs, reflecting her long-standing engagement with historical dress and art.
Works from her Portrait collection (A/W 1990/91), inspired by eighteenth-century painting, will be presented in proximity to Pierre Jacques Cazes’s La Naissance de Vénus – The Triumph of Venus. Elements of display design will also reference the theatrical staging of her Voyage to Cythera (A/W 1989/90) show.
Westwood, who died in 2022, maintained connections to the North and visited The Bowes Museum in 2006 to open Fine & Fashionable: Lace from the Blackborne Collection.
Vicky Sturrs, director of programmes and collections at The Bowes Museum, said: “Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary celebrates one of the most daring British designers in fashion history and marks a significant moment for The Bowes Museum as we continue to champion bold voices in fashion.
“Despite moving to London at 17, Vivienne never lost her Northern roots, and her fearless creativity still resonates powerfully with this region. Vivienne opened Fine & Fashionable: Lace from the Blackborne Collection two decades ago here at the museum and now her own work returns in conversation with the art and ideas that inspired her.
“As the North continues to nurture extraordinary emerging designers, we hope this exhibition inspires them to see fashion as both craft and activism. It stands as a reminder of how influential Northern creativity has been, and continues to be, in shaping British fashion.”
Peter Smithson, associate curator and collector, added: “Vivienne’s approach to design and construction was as unique as she was. A golden thread of storytelling ran through her collections, an endless creativity fuelled by a thirst for history and culture. Each look represented a character, scene or moment; every detail had a purpose.
“Vivienne spent a lifetime shocking and delighting in equal measure; in disregarding trends and blurring the lines between fashion and art, her work remains timeless. Drawing from a lifetime of collecting, it is a privilege to be able to share so many iconic looks for visitors to enjoy and continue to honour Vivienne in doing so.’ ”
The exhibition will be accompanied by a public programme of talks and workshops, including sessions exploring Westwood’s techniques and presentations from Peter (Smithson) on his collection.
The show, which runs from March 28 to September 6 s a collaboration between The Bowes Museum, Peter Smithson, private collectors, Manchester Art Gallery and Fashion Museum Bath. It is not an institutional partnership with the Vivienne Westwood brand. thebowesmuseum.org.uk