These incredible exhibitions bring together the worlds of fashion and art

Kira Goodey highlights the innovative new shows that demonstrate how art, fashion and performance are inextricably intertwined

Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1996. © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021. Photo: Allan Finkelman

Fashion, domesticity and the female dominion 

Clothing became an important medium for French-American artist Louise Bourgeois in the last two decades of her long artistic career. The Woven Child at Hayward Gallery brings together pieces from across the diverse body of work she produced in this period, which was in part a reflection of her childhood growing up in a household of tapestry restorers. Thread and bobbins, embroidery, textiles and entire garments are incorporated into installations, collages and sculptures.

Bourgeois’ use of her own clothing from various stages of her life contributes to a raw, tender and sometimes violent exploration of the female experience, epitomised in works such as High Heels (1998) – which features the prone figure of a woman, naked apart from a pair of aggressive steel stilettos – and Cell XXV (The View of the World of the Jealous Wife (2001), in which Stepford Wife-esque wiggle dresses are encased in a steel cage. These works shine an uncomfortable light on the associations between women’s fashion, domesticity and subservience.

Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child, Hayward Gallery, until 15 May 2022

Kehinde Wiley, Alexander Cassatt, 2017 © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo Mark Blower. The Deighton Collection

The many faces of menswear

With established fashion houses like Gucci and rising stars such as Harris Reed rejecting the gender binary in favour of a fluid, expressive fashion, menswear is in the midst of a revolution. In this major exhibition, the V&A explores how masculinity has been constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed through art and fashion over the centuries.

Some 100 looks and 100 artworks are exhibited across three galleries, highlights of which include Kehinde Wiley’s and Omar Victor Diop’s stunning reimagining of traditional portraiture thanks to contemporary garments. Familiar outfits worn by sartorial icons including David Bowie and Harry Styles feature alongside historical artefacts from the V&A vaults, creating an exultant exhibition that celebrates masculine self-expression and performance in all its guises. 

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, V&A, until 6 November 2022

Henry Fuseli, Female figure with an elaborate coiffure, seen from behind, c.1800. The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust). Photo: © The Courtauld

Neoclassical costume at its finest 

The eccentric fashions and elaborate bouffant hair worn by late-18th-century women were a recurring subject matter in the detailed drawings of Henry Fuseli. An upcoming exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery celebrates the Zurich-born artist’s fixation with fashionable ladies. Although primarily known for his supernatural paintings, his sketches of women are some of his finest works and provide fascinating documentation of the most distinctive neoclassical fashions and ornate hairstyles of the time.

Considered one of Europe’s more eccentric artists, Fuseli spent a formative period in Rome in the 1770s before relocating to London, where he privately drew the women that can be seen in this alluring collection of sketches, often including his model-cum-wife, Sophia Rawlins. The show includes 50 sketches in which the subjects are commanding, alluring and extremely stylish.

Fuseli and the Modern Woman: Fashion, Fantasy, Fetishism, The Courtauld Gallery, 13 October 2022–8 January 2023

Models holding hands, Lagos, Nigeria, 2019 by Stephen Tayo. Courtesy Lagos Fashion Week

The vibrant creativity of contemporary African fashion 

The V&A brings together over 250 objects from 20 countries for the UK’s largest exhibition of African fashion to date. Rather than attempting to be representative of an entire continent, Africa Fashion instead highlights a selection of 20th-century mavericks, as well as some of the most exciting creative voices to emerge from the scene today. Alongside works by fashion designers are pieces by visual artists, musicians, activists and writers, reflecting the make-up of an intertwined creative community.

The stories behind each object are told through sketches, photographs, catwalk footage and personal accounts from the designers themselves. From IAMISIGO’s Spring/Summer 2019 Gods of the Wilderness collection, inspired by traditional West African performance art, to photographer James Barnor’s enchanting portraits of chic citizens, the range of works exhibited is as vibrant and diverse as the continent itself.

Africa Fashion, V&A, 2 July 2022–17 March 2023

LookBook image from All Our Stories LookBook Shoot. Featuring the ruched crying tiger dress in the exhibition. Image by Christina Ebenezer. SS22

Forging alternative systems through art, fashion and activism

Fashion designer, artist and humanitarian Bethany Williams is on a mission to create positive social and environmental change in the world. The Design Museum is celebrating the London-based designer’s trailblazing practice in a free exhibition highlighting not only her bold, colourful designs but also the many charitable organisations that are vital partners in each project. Her practice ranges from streetwear and public art installations to emergency PPE and features equally varied collaborators, from designers and artists to female inmates at HMP Downview.

While Williams’ practice crosses disciplines and social boundaries, the connecting thread is an uncompromising commitment to sustainable manufacturing and social enterprise. Whether it’s telling the story of grassroots organisations through print, creating thousands of pairs of scrubs to aid pandemic relief, or turning waste materials into high-fashion textiles, Williams’ work manifests her desire to build alternative systems for a brighter future. 

Bethany Williams: Alternative Systems, The Design Museum, until 4 September 2022