aktuelle Ausstellungen

Iris van Herpen Sculpting the Senses

Rotterdam ( NL) >2709.2025 - 01.03.2026

This coming autumn, Kunsthal Rotterdam’s HALL 2 will be entirely dedicated to the work of the world-famous Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen (1984). Van Herpen is one of the most avant-garde couturiers of her generation. With her pioneering use of innovative techniques in her profession, Van Herpen breaks with fashion conventions while at the same time embracing the traditional craftsmanship of haute couture. The exhibition Sculpting the Senses is a sensory exploration of the designer’s universe and presents an immersive retrospective that brings together fashion, contemporary art, design, and science. The Kunsthal is showcasing over a hundred iconic creations that illustrate how Van Herpen is constantly stretching the boundaries of haute couture.

Sculpting the Senses celebrates Van Herpen’s multidisciplinary approach and offers a spectacular overview of her wide-ranging body of work. Her creations are highlighted through nine themes, a 21st-century cabinet of curiosities, and a replica of her Amsterdam atelier. The dazzling exhibition design guides visitors through immersive spaces, accompanied by a multisensory soundscape by Salvador Breed.

Position of the body

From the tiniest to the biggest scale, the exhibition raises questions about the position of the body in the space, the relationship between clothes and the environment, and the future of the body in our rapidly changing world. In the exhibition, Van Herpen’s haute-couture pieces enter into a dialogue with contemporary artworks by, among others, Collectif Mé, Philip Beesley, Wim Delvoye, Kate MccGwire, Damien Jalet, Kohei Nawa, Casey Curran, Rogan Brown, Jacques Rougerie, and Tomáš Libertíny and with design objects by Neri Oxman, Ren Ri and Ferruccio Laviani.
Iris van Herpen

Iris van Herpen (1984) grew up in the Dutch village of Wamel. She first discovered her passion for fashion in her grandmother’s attic, where she stumbled upon a mini museum of garments and costumes that opened her gaze towards a different era. After graduating from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, she worked for Alexander McQueen in London, and Claudy Jongstra in Amsterdam. In 2007, she established her own label and presented her first collection during Amsterdam Fashion Week. In 2011, at the age of 27, Van Herpen joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. Her creations are included in a variety of collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Publication

The exhibition Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses will be accompanied by an English-language catalogue of the same name, 256 pages, ISBN 9789020987430. This book is available at the Kunsthal Shop and Kunsthal Webshop as of 27 September.

Collaboration

The exhibition Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is organised by Kunsthal Rotterdam in close collaboration with Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and Maison Iris van Herpen, based on the original exhibition, designed by Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

Kunsthal Rotterdam
Museumpark
Westzeedijk 341
3015 AA Rotterdam
Niederlande

weitere Infos: www.kunsthal.nl/en/plan-your-visit/exhibitions/iris-van-herpen/

Fong-Leng & Fans - 60 years Fashion & Fame

amstelveen ( NL)> 15.10.2025 - 06.04.2026

Museum JAN will present Fong-Leng & Fans - 60 years of Fashion & Faam, an exhibition on the influence and significance of the colourful, multidisciplinary fashion designer and artist Fong-Leng from 15 October 2025. For 60 years a unique player in the Dutch fashion and design world, who inspires other young makers to this day.

Fans of her extravagant creations
Fong-Leng (1937) is famous at home and abroad for its flamboyant outfits: dresses and jackets made of leather, silk and fur with applications of exotic animals and plants. In the 1970's she became popular with her extravagant creations, which were worn by celebrities such as Mathilde Willink and singer Kate Bush. Her distinctive work and personality have led to a large crowd of 'fans' and - even 60 years later - are still a source of inspiration. In this exhibition, Museum JAN gives these admirers the opportunity to show the strength and uniqueness of her work and its place in the Dutch fashion landscape.

Inspiration for current fashion designers
Fong-Leng has also been an important source of inspiration for contemporary fashion designers such as Ronald van der Kemp (RVDK), Bas Kosters and Mattijs van Bergen, who have indicated that they have been influenced by aspects such as her choice of materials, colors and distinctive style. Among younger couturiers and fashion designers like Tess van Zalinge and David Laport, the love of craftsmanship and folds shows clear parallels with the work of Fong-Leng. Also fashion label Atelier Reservé, which makes fashion for a wide and diverse audience, enters into a beautiful dialogue with the work of Fong-Leng in terms of theme, inspiration and use of color. In this exhibition, designs by all these designers are shown alongside the work of Fong-Leng to visually emphasize the timeless relevance of her exuberant style. This is especially interesting at a time when identity and its expression in clothing is a topical issue in the social debate.

New textile paintings in reconstruction of her living room
To this day, Fong-Leng remains productive and creates wall objects made of materials such as leather, suede, silk and fur. Her signature can be seen clearly, with many exotic animal figures. Her Chinese background plays an important role in this. Especially for the exhibition at Museum JAN, part of her imaginative, colourful world is being reconstructed. Visitors can enter her living room, where new textile paintings will be on display that have not been shown to the public before.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

Museum JAN
50 Village Street
Amstelveen, NH
1182 JE Netherlands
Niederlande

weitere Infos: nl.museumjan.nl/exhibitions/fong-leng-fans-60-jaar-fashion-faam

Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Sculptors of shape

Prato ( I ) > 25.10.2025 - 10.05.2026

The Museum pays tribute to two iconic figures in French fashion with an exhibition designed by Olivier Saillard.

The Museo del Tessuto Foundation concludes its 50th anniversary exhibition calendar with a major exhibition dedicated to two absolute icons of French fashion. Created in collaboration with the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation in Paris chaired by Carla Sozzani, the exhibition Azzedine Alaïa and Cristóbal Balenciaga. Sculptors of Shape is curated by Olivier Saillard and counts the French Embassy in Italy among its patrons, as well as the extraordinary participation of Balenciaga Archives in Paris, for an exceptional exhibition project coming to Italy for the first time.

The concept for the exhibition dates back to the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation in 2020, at the behest of Hubert de Givenchy. A few months after the passing of Azzedine Alaïa (Tunis 1935 – Paris 2017) and decades after that of Balenciaga (Getaria 1895 – Jávea 1972), as a great admirer of Balenciaga and a key figure in classical fashion, Givenchy shared his wish with the Alaïa Foundation to bring these two great talents together, both skilled experimenters with shapes and volumes that have profoundly marked the history of fashion.

The exhibition

Twenty-five creations by Azzedine Alaïa – considered one of the last couturiers, capable of mastering every stage in a garment’s creation, from design to tailoring – dialogue with as many garments by Cristóbal Balenciaga, in a timeless comparison.

Alongside the garments, the Textile Museum is exhibiting 12 original drawings by Balenciaga dated between 1950 and 1968 from Balenciaga Archives in Paris, shown in Italy for the very first time. The drawings, some of which include technical notes for tailoring and fabric samples, are accompanied by an equal number of original photos of the garments being worn, valuable and extraordinary records of the Spanish designer’s creative process.

As Azzedine recounts, when Maison Balenciaga closed for good in 1968, as a young up-and-coming designer, he was called upon by Mademoiselle Renée – the Maison’s historic deputy general manager – to choose a selection of Master Balenciaga’s creations, because only his hands would be able to rework and renew them without betraying them. The young Alaïa was so amazed by the shapes, the architecture of the cuts and the technical skill of each garment that he marked this encounter with Balenciaga’s work as the starting point for his own, and personally collected his most representative garments.

Both couturiers were passionate about sartorial construction and known for their perfectionism and ability to cut and sew with their own hands. Balenciaga’s research resulted in perfect formal elegance, while Alaïa’s highlighted precise sensuality. Balenciaga was a great innovator of forms and creator of wearable architecture, while Alaia wrapped and sculpted the body as if it were a second skin.

The exhibition is completed by a film on the life and work of Azzedine Alaïa made by Joe McKenna, fashion editor and stylist, and a never-before-seen video featuring the presentations of Balenciaga’s Haute Couture Summer 1960 and 1968 collections from Balenciaga Archives in Paris.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

Museo del Tessuto
Via Puccetti 3
59100 Prato
Italien

weitere Infos: www.museodeltessuto.it/en/exhibitions/azzedine-alaia-cristobal-balenciaga-sculptors-of-shape/

DressDreamsDesire

New York ( USA) > 10.09.2025 - 04.01.2026

The first exhibition to explore the cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis draws on key psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality, and the unconscious to interpret almost 100 items of dress by designers including Azzedine Alaïa, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, Willy Chavarria, Bella Freud, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Grace Wales Bonner, Vivienne Westwood, and Yohji Yamamoto.

Curated by MFIT Director and Chief Curator Dr. Valerie Steele, who was dubbed "the Freud of Fashion" by critic Suzy Menkes, the exhibition is the result of five years of research, reflecting the museum's commitment to original inquiry and creative thinking about the cultural significance of dress. Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis coincides with the release of Steele's exhibition companion book in November.

The Museum at FIT is dedicated to advancing knowledge of fashion, and psychoanalysis provides important clues about the power and allure of fashion, as well as the ambivalence and hostility that fashion also attracts," says Dr. Valerie Steele.

Organized both chronologically and thematically, the exhibition begins by tracing the historical relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. The introductory gallery opens with Freud's personal style circa 1900, as well as his radical ideas about sexuality and the unconscious, and his problematic theories about women's "exhibitionistic" and "narcissistic" relationship with fashion. The exhibition then takes visitors through the 1920s and 1930s, when psychoanalysis was popularly associated with sexual and personal freedom, especially for women and sexual minorities. In contrast to Freud, the British psychoanalyst J.C. Flügel envied women's freedom to adorn and expose themselves, whereas Joan Riviere, one of a growing cohort of female psychoanalysts, theorized that femininity was a "masquerade" necessitated by male prejudice. It is widely recognized that by the 1950s, most psychoanalysts, especially in the United States, were virulently homophobic and misogynistic. However, beginning in the second half of the 20th century, some feminists and LGBTQ+ activists stopped rejecting Freud as "the enemy" and instead called for an inclusive, liberatory psychoanalysis.

Following this historical overview, the exhibition continues thematically with various interpretations of fashion through the lens of psychoanalytic ideas about dreams, desire, sexual difference, and death. Freud interpreted most dreams as disguised sexual wishes— visualized by Moschino's chocolate bar dress, evoking the pleasure principle, the drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain. By contrast, Carl Jung interpreted dreams in terms of eternal archetypes from the collective unconscious. While many designers represent the feminine prototype of the queen or lover, Rick Owens created a more esoteric collection dedicated to the "priestesses of longing." Later, Freud would go "beyond the pleasure principle" to include the death drive, characterized by aggression, destruction, and hatred. Josephus Thimister referenced the slaughter of World War I in his collection, "1915 Opulence and Bloodshed," while Jun Takahashi of Undercover created a collection featuring roses and razor blades that could be interpreted as evoking Eros (life and love) versus Thanatos (death and destruction).

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
227 West 27th Street
New York City 10001-5992
Amerika

weitere Infos: www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/dress-dreams-desire/index.php

Dirty Looks Desire and Decay in Fashion

London ( GB) > 25.09.2025 - 25.01.2026

Rebel against conventional beauty and take a look at the dirty side of fashion.

From ruined romantic evening gowns to faux-stained jeans, mud-splashed dresses and upcycled outfits, the fashion world has never been dirtier.

But where did this idea of getting dirty come from? Where is it going? And, what does it say about fashion's relationship to the earth and to our bodies?

Dirty Looks explores how dirt and decay have been used to defy beauty standards, and why it's going through a resurgence in young designers' work. As a counterpoint to glossy digital perfection, these artistic practices point us to a new way of thinking about a sustainable fashion future.

Featuring icons like Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Miguel Adrover and Maison Margiela, alongside emerging designers such as Elena Velez, Yuima Nakazato and IAMISIGO, this exhibition explores fashion's past, present and possible future.

The human desire to reconnect with the earth – a romantic longing or ‘nostalgia of mud’ – finds many expressions, as these pairs of rubber wellington boots owned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and London’s supermodel Kate Moss exemplify. Spending time in nature, whether on horseback or trawling through the muddy fields of Worthy Farm at Glastonbury, is often seen as a welcome antidote to our sanitised and digital lifestyles. 

Fashion has long been characterised by glamorous and perfect surfaces that will not tolerate any form of ‘dirt’, defined by anthro­pologist Mary Douglas as ‘matter out of place’. However, over the past fifty years, forms of both real and fake dirt have infiltrated and decorated fashion, symbolising rebelliousness, romanticism and decay as well as concepts of transience, spirituality and regeneration. 

Dirty Looks explores the many ways in which fashion has embraced ‘dirty’ aesthetics, from the poetic and the political to the subversive and humorous. The exhibition traces an ongoing nostalgia of mud, from ancient landscapes such as the bog to new horizons where a spiritual connection to the earth is expressed through garments. Examining the influence of decolonial attitudes and indigenous perspectives, it also demonstrates what alternative practices – from upcycled materials and repurposed deadstock to regenerated textiles and reinterpretations of natural resources – could offer the industry.

Fashion, as a deeply meaningful cultural practice of adornment, is also the third most polluting industry in the world. By taking a ‘dirty look’ at fashion, we might begin to reckon with what this says about our relationship to the earth, salvaging the connections eroded by industrialisation and colonialism.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite Foto :© David Parry

Art Gallery
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
Groß Britannien

weitere Infos: www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/dirty-looks

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World

London ( GB ) > 09.10.2025 - 11.01.2026

Cecil Beaton – ‘The King of Vogue’ – was an extraordinary force in the 20th-century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a fashion illustrator, Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist and writer, Beaton elevated fashion and portrait photography into an art form.

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is the first exhibition dedicated solely to Beaton’s ground-breaking contributions to fashion and portrait photography. The exhibition showcases Beaton at his most triumphant – from the Jazz Age and the Bright Young Things, to the high fashion brilliance of the fifties and the glittering, Oscar-winning success of My Fair Lady. Via London, Paris, New York and Hollywood, his era-defining photographs captured beauty, glamour, and star power in the interwar and early post-war eras.

With over 200 items displayed, including photographs, letters, portrait sketches, fashion illustration and costume, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World features portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most iconic figures, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret; as well as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite ( Foto © condé nast)

National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place
London, WC2H 0HE
Groß Britannien

weitere Infos: www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2025/cecil-beaton/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JDCOMMSCecilBeaton2025openingday&utm_content=version_A&promo=39208

Hat Couture

Stockholm ( S ) 24.10.2025 - 26.10.2026

Hat Couture – royal hat fashion in the Royal Armoury

A colorful exhibition about the imaginative accessory hat. Here you will be shown creative retro hats borne by royal ladies as well as modern creations exclusively borrowed from Princess Christina and Princess Sofia.

The hat was obvious to wear in the mid-20th century – a time that can be described as the golden age of the hat. Colorful pill cans, fancy turbans and flowering creations gave the look that little extra.

Hat Couture – royal hat fashion in the Living Room, royal hats from the museum’s collections are shown for the first time in an exhibition. The headgears have belonged to Queen Louise as well as Princesses Sibylla and Margaretha, and have been used in accordance with the royal dress code in both festive and more mundane contexts.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite ( Foto ©Jens Mohr, Livrustkammaren/SHM.)

Livrustkammaren
Slottsbacken 3,
111 30 Stockholm
Schweden

weitere Infos: livrustkammaren.se/utstallningar/hatt-couture/

Borderless

Trieste ( I ) > 27.03.2025 - 4.1. 2026

Discover the best of a new generation of creatives and let their innovative visions inspire you! This remarkable showcase brings together creations by young fashion and accessory designers selected during ITS Contest 2025 — one of the most prestigious international talent platforms, established in Trieste in 2002, that has contributed to intercept and shape the careers of thousands, including some of the industry’s leading artistic directors.
he works on display, carefully selected by a distinguished jury of international experts, showcase exceptional talent and boundless creativity. You will have the opportunity to vote for your favourite and contribute to the awarding of the next Public’s Choice Award, worth €5,000.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

ITS Arcademy
Via Cassa di Risparmio, 10
34121 Trieste
Italien

weitere Infos: itsweb.org/its-arcademy/whats-on/#exhibitions

Fashionlands – Clothes Beyond Borders

Trieste ( I)> 27.03.2025 - 4.1.2026

This new international exhibition explores fashion's role in transcending traditional boundaries.
The exhibition Fashionlands – Clothes Beyond Borders challenges traditional notions of fashion, revealing its shifting boundaries and examining its impact on culture and society. It is curated by Olivier Saillard, one of the world’s foremost fashion historians, and Emanuele Coccia, a philosopher and author, on their second collaboration for ITS Arcademy.

On the left side of the gallery, discover pieces from the ITS Arcademy Collection — a celebration of two decades of creativity. These works, created by 23 talented emerging designers from all over the world, redefine the limits of clothing design through their poetic, imaginative and daring visions.
Across from them, Gabriele Rosati’s photography series captures the enduring essence of everyday wear. Simple, timeless garments like white shirts, black suits, jeans, and t-shirts have remained largely unchanged for decades, resisting the rapid turnover of seasonal trends. These images explore the archeology of ordinary attire, offering a stark contrast to the experimental and extraordinary pieces on display.

By juxtaposing these two perspectives — utopian creations and the universal language of everyday garments — Fashionlands – Clothes Beyond Borders invites visitors to reflect on the fluidity of fashion’s borders and to rethink what defines style itself, and what we say through our clothes.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

ITS Arcademy
Via Cassa di Risparmio, 10
34121 Trieste,
Italien

weitere Infos: itsweb.org/its-arcademy/whats-on/#exhibitions

Accessoires

Lerwick ( GB ) > all year

Exhibitions are an essential aspect of our work to provide access to the Collection. They are held annually at the Böd focussing on a theme related to Shetland Textiles, and change every year.

This years main exhibition is called Accessories

We have a wide range of accessories from hats, gloves to underwear. We also have some of the items necessary to produce the garments, spinning wheels, wool winders, glove boards, knitting belts even niddy noddies!

In addition we have a display of work by Deirde Nelson called the dangers of sewing and knitting. This is a small part of an exhibition she produced some years ago, and kindly donated the Shetland elements to our Museum.

In the Loom Room we have a rather splendid Taatit rug and a selection of items knitted in different types of wool.

There is of course the muckle gravit [big scarf] which is going to be 20 years old later this year. We hope as many visitors as possible will add to it.

In our other exhibition we are showcasing the the work of Zena Thomson, a well known and much respected knitter. This shows the range of her talent.

In 1998 she was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II to make a shawl for the Queen to present to the Empress of Japan during the State Visit of the Emperor and the Empress to the UK.

The letters and a copy of the shawl take pride of place in this exhibition.

We are grateful to her family for the loan of this work.

Our main exhibition for 2023 celebrated the union of the home-based machine and hand knitter.

Since the fifties home based knitting machines were common in Shetland homes. Many a Shetlander remembers falling asleep to the background noise of the knitting machine. The knitters were both men and women, and even children who would knit for pocket money. The introduction of these machines back in the thirties helped to preserve and expand traditional Shetland knitting.

Machine knitting gave women the opportunity to be business women with many employing family and neighbours to help produce garments which could be sold privately and not through the local merchants.

Text - und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite

Shetland Textile Museum
Bod of Gremista, Gremista Industrial Estate, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0PX, Groß Britannien

weitere Infos: www.shetlandtextilemuseum.com/about-us/