In this week’s blog post, Costume Society member Maggi Garfield reviews the recent Rainbow exhibition held at the School of Historical Dress.
The School of Historical Dress was founded in 2012 by Vanessa Hopkins, Santina Levey and the current principal Jenny Tiramani. “The School encourages new research into historical dress and introduces students to the tools needed for this, such as how to study an object, to identify its materials, cut, construction and historical context. Various historical methods of pattern drafting, construction and decorative techniques are taught on our courses,” Tiramani said. Crucially this is done using extant garments from the school’s archive.
The School is based in Lambeth in London and is renowned for publishing and sharing the work of Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion books, a resource our award entrants use annually.
Image courtesy of Maggi Garfield.
The ‘colour’ series of exhibitions were the first historical and costume themed exhibitions held by the School of Historical Dress; beginning in 2022 with white, followed by blue (18 August 2023- 24 September 2023), brown (15 December 2023 - 28 January 2024), red (30 August 2024- 13 October 2024) and black (20 December 2024- 2 February 2025). The Rainbow exhibition was the sixth colour in the series, and was timed to coincide with London Pride in a celebration of diversity.
From the moment you arrive at the unassuming front door of 52 Lambeth Street it is immediately apparent this is not a typical fashion exhibition. Formerly housing a medical dispensary, the building has also served as a home for shell-shocked WWI soldiers and a women’s hostel. This rich history provides a palpable backdrop to the experience. In contrast to the frenetic energy of a typical tourist-filled museum entrance, we were ushered into a small, dimly lit vestibule by a single member of staff, who handed us protective shoe covers. Putting them on provided a chance to admire the displayed historical medical ephemera and the tone-setting rainbow Issey Miyake Pleats Please overshirt. Hanging our coats on the already overloaded coat rack provided a glimpse into the working reality of the space.
Image courtesy of Maggi Garfield.
Intentionally or not the boundaries between front and back of house are blurred, which feels very aligned with founder Jenny’s drive for practicality and authenticity in her work. The French philosopher Michel Foucault writes of the ‘heterotopia’, a physical space where the rules of reality are both recognised and suspended; museums, airports and shopping centres are all examples. Being inside the School of Historical Dress is akin to this. The building was not intended as a museum, and although never a private residence feels lived in due to its constant use as a school and conservation space. Exhibitions occupy the two ground floor rooms. Jenny explains “We have wanted to educate through exhibitions since our school started.” Fitting a fully accessible ground floor space and the growing collection made it possible. The concept was inspired by the 'Fashion in Color' exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York in 2005-6, curated by Viktor and Rolf and originally shown at the Kyoto Costume Institute in 2004.
The main room contained approximately 30 garments spanning the last 300 years, each representing a shade of the rainbow, which is also reinforced with swooping coloured banners. It is the size of a spacious living room, with the garments on stands and suspended at various levels. The only noise comes from the street outside. Jenny explains, “We all contribute to the design and construction, working as a team”. The slightly DIY effect of presentation playfully belies the quality of the items on display while the colour theme allows an integration of garments from different eras, cultures and communities. Pink was represented by a fifties Dior jacket with eighteenth century breeches. Blue was represented by a 20th century Jantzen swimsuit with c1760 breeches and Vivienne Westwood checked trousers from the 1983-84 Witches collection paired with a 2000s era bejewelled Christian Lacroix jacket. These combinations evoked the Blitz kids, the most cutting edge of the eighties New Romantics, and unexpectedly, the capris and tiny top look popular in the early 2000s evoked the Y2K trend. This style of curation reflects both the school’s motto, ‘Anything Anyone Ever Wore’ and the everyday reality of getting dressed. The placement of relatively recent pink handbags by Zara alongside the historical items is a thought provoking, and according to Tirimani, occasionally controversial choice, as “some people prefer things to be strictly historical”, Tirimani said. “We believe that 'historical' dress is from the past, including what you wore yesterday.”
Therefore the garments on display were reflections of worn reality. The majority of the items in the exhibition came from the school’s own collection of approximately 2000 items, supplemented by a few personal loans from staff. During our tour team member Anoushka Der Sarkissian revealed she had donated the Forstmann for Saks Fifth Avenue suit representing Indigo. Dame Vivienne Westwood was a passionate patron of the school, and her archive also lent several items, including the sunflower silk dress from the SS17 collection ‘Rescue 112’ collection; a SS22 bright yellow latex dress, a bright orange embroidered dress from AW24 and gold boots from the AW23.
As the timing of this exhibition during Pride Month recognises, fashion and LGBTQ+ history are linked; overlooking the exhibit are activist slogan t-shirts; a modern Protect the Dolls and a Martin Margiela AIDS awareness shirt from 1994. Bookending the main room is a seventies unlabelled rainbow kaftan donated by campaigning actress Miriam Karlin (1925-2011).
The surprise highlight of the exhibition was waiting in the second, smaller room. The dark atmospheric chamber backdrops several historical items incorporating all the colours of the rainbow. This included a lavish c.1730 French silk caraco jacket that was shown alongside a replica painstakingly created by students at the school. The garment rounding off the exhibition is a spectacular, heavily embroidered 18th century English Court mantua in ivory silk. It was among several historical garments donated by the Gosling family; facilitated by Joseph Sullivan of Textile Antiques.
The mantua was displayed horizontally, and with the back facing up to allow viewing of the elaborate details. The front panels have been unpicked and reversed. “We think it was probably altered for fancy dress at some point…It’s thanks to dressing up boxes that a lot of our historical garments have survived,” Tirimani said.
The floating display allowed the viewer to closely admire the incredible handwork and extremely extravagant use of expensive fabric and threads. Yards of minutely pleated and swagged Spitalfields silk are lushly covered in floral embroidery. In the style of botanical artist Mary Delany (1700-1788) the lifelike flowers seemingly use every colour of thread available; an example of artistry meeting with utter extravagance.
The Rainbow exhibition ran from 5 July to 17 August 2025.
Here you can learn more about the winners of the mentioned Patterns for Performance and Patterns for Fashion awards for 2025.
Image courtesy of Maggi Garfield.
