In this week’s blog, Costume Society News Editor Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas reviews Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party at the Garden Museum.
The first exhibition to explore Cecil Beaton’s floral fascination and the impact of flowers upon his costume and set design has opened at the Garden Museum. Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party showcases a common thread of gardens and flowers that flowed throughout his work, including his iconic fashion photography, costume and set design for film, theatre and ballet, and his Royal family court photography.
Curated by Garden Museum Curator Emma House and designed by artist Luke Edward Hall, the exhibition charts Beaton’s horticultural journey from his own gardens at Ashcombe House and Reddish House in Wiltshire and includes many objects that have never been on show before.
Beaton set up his own photography practice after leaving university and was soon receiving commissions from notable cultural celebrities and members of the aristocracy. His photographs and fashion sketches began to be published regularly in Vogue; these depictions often incorporated fresh flowers.
Beaton’s home and gardens at Ashcombe House set the scene for another costume highlight, the Surrealist rose coat that Beaton designed and wore as a party host for his 1937 Fête Champêtre. This theatrical fancy dress summer party was attended by 300 guests including many of the Bright Young Things and Beaton made three costume changes, each designed in collaboration with the Oscar-winning costumier Karinska who produced costumes for many of Beaton’s ballet and theatre productions. The Surrealist rose coat (on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) is in corduroy with muslin roses, woollen yarn and plastic, and Beaton paired it with a rabbit mask that surrealist artist Salvador Dali had helped him acquire.
Also on display is a 1940’s painted silk evening gown designed by Beaton, on loan from the Fashion Museum Bath, which was worn by actress Wendy Hiller in the 1940s. Beaton repurposed the costume design with ivy embellishments he had sketched in 1937 for his Fête Champêtre party.
A particular highlight for Costume Society members is the focus on Sir Roy Strong, one of the founding members of the Society. Not only did he write the forward of the exhibition catalogue, but the exhibition also displays two of his 1969 watercolours, on loan from his personal collection. Both depict Beaton’s Reddish home. The first which Strong completed while Beaton was himself sitting for a David Hockney portrait, shows the winter garden at Reddish. The second is a small study of the rear terrace at Reddish, made following Strong and Beaton’s collaboration on Beaton’s National Portrait Gallery exhibition, Beaton Portraits: 1928-1968, held in 1968.
Installation view of ‘Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party’ at the Garden Museum, 14 May-21 September 2025. © B J Deakin Photography
Beaton’s extensive design work for opera and ballet is a particular focus of the exhibition, especially his long professional relationship with choreographer Frederick Ashton, Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. In 1936 Beaton was commissioned to design Le Pavillion for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo to premier at the Royal Opera House and The First Shoot choreographed by Frederick Ashton. The same year, a second Ashton production premiered, The Apparitions which saw a young Margot Fonteyn take centre stage. These collaborations marked the start of long partnership between Beaton and Ashton. On display are his original costume design illustrations for Ashton’s ballets Les Sirènes and Apparitions including ball gowns and headdress designs, as well as a headdress worn by ballerina Margot Fonteyn in Apparitions and a costume worn in Marguerite and Armand.
While working as an official war photographer for the British Ministry of Information during World War Two, Beaton became fascinated by bamboo gardens in China, and this later inspired his set design for the opera Turandot. This section of the exhibition displays illustrations and a model of this stage design on loan from the Royal Opera House which have never been showcased before. In 1960, Beaton was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in New York to work alongside producer Yoshio Aoyama to create the set design and costumes for a new production of Puccini’s opera Turandot. To inspire his designs, Beaton studied François Boucher’s chinoiserie tapestries, seen in books and engravings from the British Museum, as well as his own photos of China. On show are headdresses, costume design notes, illustrations and photographs depicting his Chinoiserie style designs.
Beaton’s renowned royal relationships are included and the exhibition displays an iconic photograph of Wallis Simpson in her lobster print Elsa Schiaparelli Surrealist dress.
The last section of the exhibition explores Beaton’s Edwardian-inspired designs for the Broadway production of My Fair Lady which premiered in 1956. The production had a chorus of 40, each with five costume changes, and when Warner Brothers bought the rights for the film, Beaton was employed by Hollywood to design the costumes for the film. The Oscar that Beaton won for his costume designs is on show in the exhibition, alongside a letter from the film’s iconic star, Audrey Hepburn.
The exhibition runs until 21 September 2025.
To explore more relationships between flowers and fashion, revisit our previous blog post on Chertsey Museum's floral-themed exhibition.
