BACK IN STYLE
Quant exhibition leads the re-opening of V&A
SHE was the style savant who made the miniskirt popular, encouraging post-war women to rebel against the conservative clothing of their mothers and grandmothers.
Now the V&A Dundee is putting its best foot forward when it re-opens next month with its first major fashion exhibition, a deep dive into the world of British designer Mary Quant.
The museum closed in March, before the planned launch of the show. Bu, yesterday the museum revealed the Quant exhibition will run from the August 27 re-opening date until January.
The famed fashion dame, renowned for making designer clothing affordable in the 1950s, was known for her bold colours and iconic daily logo.
Her shop, Bazaar, opened in 1955, the year after Second World War food rationing ended, and her colourful designs were a reaction against the austerity and drabness of post-war London.
Quant’s designs offered many different versions of femininity and challenged the conventional gender stereotypes of post-war Britain.
Famous pieces on display will include “Wet Collection” PVC rainwear, a jute miniskirt and designs that playfully subverted menswear at a time when women were still banned from wearing trousers in formal settings such as restaurants.
The exhibition in Dundee will also feature the stories of women who made outfits from Mary Quant’s dressmaking patterns, gathered through V&A Dundee’s #Sewquant campaign, as well as a new film looking at contemporary female designers who, like Quant, are forging their own way through today’s rapidly shifting fashion industry.
Sophie Mckinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee, said: “Mary Quant is a remarkable designer who did so much to revolutionise the fashion industry and to empower women to wear clothes that looked great and felt great, and it’s the perfect choice for our first major fashion exhibition.
“Across the rest of the museum, visitors will see more than they’ve ever seen before, with displays inside and outside the museum that explore creative responses to how the world has changed and how we hope it may change in the future.”
The V&A also unveiled a range of other post-lockdown programming.
Architecture collective Assemble will begin work on Making Room from August 27, a project with
Dundee Central Library, local school pupils and the museum’s Young People’s Collective.
Making Room is taking inspiration from historic buildings in Dundee to produce a new interior room that will be built in V&A Dundee before being moved to Dundee Central Library.
The museum has also curated a new exhibition in response to the coronavirus pandemic, looking at how designers responded to the crisis.
Now Accepting Contactless: Design in a Global Pandemic will be shown in
Mary Quant is a remarkable designer who did so much to revolutionise the fashion industry
the Michelin Design Gallery, in spaces throughout the museum and, for the first time, outside the museum.
Leonie Bell, incoming Director of V&A Dundee, said: “I am hugely excited to be preparing to join the team at V&A Dundee, particularly at a time when Scotland’s first design museum will be re-opening and welcoming visitors back with Mary Quant, its first major fashion exhibition, and its most ambitious programme to date.
“That programme also includes the brilliant architecture collective Assemble working with young people in Dundee and an exploration of how designers responded to the pandemic, underlining the importance of design to everyone’s lives.”
Dundee City Council leader John Alexander said: “The re-opening of V&A Dundee will be yet another important milestone in the city’s journey out of lockdown. I am pleased that the Assemble partnership with Central Library will see local young people given the opportunity to get involved in an exciting design project that reaches out into the community.”
He added: “I also hope that our local economy and businesses will be given a boost by visitors who come to the city because of the tremendous attractions of V&A Dundee and its Mary Quant exhibition.”