Uncovering the life within clothes at Manchester Art Gallery

19 July 2026, by Francine McMahon

In this week's blog post, Costume Society Blog Editor Francine McMahon reviews WORN: the life within clothes, currently on display at Manchester Art Gallery.

In March 2026, Manchester Art Gallery opened its highly anticipated exhibition WORN: the life within clothes. This being the third costume exhibition since the collection’s move from Platt Hall, south of the city centre, to its current home in the main gallery building, WORN sees Manchester Art Gallery continue its considered and distinct curatorial style in responding to dress and textiles. WORN: the life within clothes seeks to look at the gallery’s costume collection with focus on so-called slow fashion and demonstration of clothes’ lifecycles to draw out how this connects clothing with its wearers. Manchester Art Gallery Curator of Fashion and Dress, Rosie Gnatiuk, explains that the exhibition reflects how ‘Dress collections are full of stories and points of connection through multiple histories, evidence of wear, making, reuse and repair, memories and experiences.' As such, despite containing impressive examples of dress and textiles, people are at the heart of both the objects and curation of the exhibition.

The exhibition is hosted in Manchester Art Gallery’s dedicated Fashion and Dress Gallery. Despite the space being a single room, the space is used optimally to display a broad range of over 40 objects, creating distinct spaces and encouraging a true journey of discovery as you move through the gallery. The first object I encountered on entering was one of the multiple garments made by Manchester Metropolitan University Fashion students for the exhibition. The students’ works are displayed with ‘Please touch’ signs, and were made in response to a brief specifically ‘to create tactile handling garments’. This partnership is both representative of Manchester Art Gallery’s incredible commitment to representing the city and using its platform to promote, develop and grow art and culture both for visitors but also emerging professionals. It also speaks to the distinct curatorial choices that define its voice. This tool surprised me in how much it challenged me – despite clear signage that these pieces were made for touching, it still felt wrong to me to do it. This of course speaks to how much weight the museum setting has on our behaviour, the conventions that gallery spaces and objects presented as hugely significant dictate through years of traditional curation and object display. Alongside this, it brings out the exhibition theme in a dynamic way, with Gnatiuk rightfully noting how ‘we understand clothing through tough, wear and movement’ … ‘so [she] was interested in how we could facilitate and invite touch through this project and think about what this experience might teach us’. This demonstrates a key strength in Gnatiuk’s curation for me; the gallery’s previous ‘Unpicking Couture’ exhibition gave me similar feelings in how it challenged, particularly for costume exhibits, the expected ‘blockbuster exhibition’ style display and interpretation. Here, these expectations are replaced with more considered approaches that redirect curation to honour audiences first, rather than objects and exhibition sets. Additionally, it reflects Manchester Art Gallery’s wider values in opening up representation and access in museums, ensuring they are welcoming spaces rather than intimidating.

This is further achieved with the use of the ‘slow looking platform’, a display tool also used in the Unpicking Couture exhibition. This sees an object displayed on a round platform in the centre of the gallery space, surrounded by easels, chairs and drawing materials, a curatorial choice made to ‘[invite] contemplation through drawing and mark-making’. I found seeing the drawings left by other visitors of their interpretations of the patchwork dress on display a really beautiful way to again connect to the message of the exhibition, understanding and appreciating how clothing is defined by our interactions with it.

The display cabinets across the gallery space show a sequence of paired and grouped items, demonstrating different themes. For example, a Victorian miner’s work shirt demonstrating multiple signs of repair and the longevity in its construction paired contrastingly with a fabulous pink silk bodice from the same time period. Interpretation explaining the conservation term inherent vice alongside this piece highlighted that despite its beauty, its cheaper silk lining weighted with tin meant it was bound for irreparable degradation. Utility contrasted with aestheticism.

Additional groupings include punk outfits and items, linking to Manchester’s nightlife history and the age of the New Romantics, again demonstrating Manchester Art Gallery’s representation of the city in its collection. For the exhibition, Gnatiuk found 'working with donors and really understanding personal experiences, connections to dress and gaining insight into pieces has been so valuable. I was able to make contact with author, DJ and journalist Mr Brian Belle Fortune who generously shared insights into a late 1980s customised jacket that I had admired over the years as it was so unique and of its time. Preserving and sharing these histories is so important as they really bring the objects to life.’ 

Linen and cotton ensembles speak to Manchester’s industrial history through the emergence of cotton trade, and links to exploitative and slave labour. The theme of mass production and exploitation of Eastern resources, culture, and people is further explored through display of paisley shawl items, both traditional Kashmiri slow-craft shawls alongside their mass-produced Scottish counterparts. In contrast, the World War II Make Do and Mend display ties back to the ways in which clothing’s value, and in turn how much effort we put into preserving it, takes new weight in times of necessary restriction. I was surprised to discover the resilience of expensive silks, and reminded of the consideration taken in the construction in eighteenth century garments being made with provision for future alteration in mind, in seeing how original silk dresses and suits had been repurposed over a century after their initial production for fancy dress. Related, a striking red 1950s Christian Dior cocktail dress may have looked, while beautiful, unassuming in story on first look. However, the dress belonged to a wealthy girl who donated it to their young less privileged neighbour who wore it for many years thereafter. Seeing these contrasting attitudes towards clothing is a subtle but poignant way of highlighting some of the exhibition's core themes. In this way, it highlighted the objects themselves and their individual merits, while encouraging me to reflect on my own habits in how I dress and engage with clothing.

One of my personal favourite displays within the exhibition was a sequin, tulle, disc and ostrich feather dress by the label Art School. Gnatiuk worked with Art School designer and multidisciplinary artist Eden Loweth in the development of the multi-modal display. Both written interpretation and accompanying audio explores Loweth’s experience of the difficulties of operating in the fashion industry, the enduring influence of Derek Jarman on the designer, and the collective celebration and community in queerness achieved through fashion. The dress is emotively displayed alongside Jarman’s oil on canvas artwork Queer.

Finally, a short film by filmmaker Saint Busari projected on the gallery’s only unoccupied wall shows the process behind Manchester Art Gallery’s ongoing collaboration with two Supplementary Schools in the city. This project sees 25 young people research and creatively explore our relationship with clothing, including how it connects them with their own cultural heritage. The team at Manchester Art Gallery holds particular strength in their ability to show their curatorial processes without detracting from the final product of the exhibition; this is a testament to their understanding of their context within Manchester, and their genuine connection and service to their audience. Despite the objects on display demonstrating the global connections of clothing, the gallery consistently inspires pride and hope in the cultural development of Manchester as a city, using these historic objects to facilitate positive change for the future.

WORN: the life within clothes is on display until February 13th 2028, and is free to visit.

Francine has previously reviewed Manchester Art Gallery costume exhibitions including the most recent, Unpicking Couture. You can revisit or catch up on our blog.