EXHIBITIONS
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CURATED BY PROFESSOR ANDREW GROVES AND DR DANIELLE SPRECHER​
12 APRIL – 28 APRIL 2024​​
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Over the last century, sportswear has evolved from its functional, athletic, and sporting roots to the daily uniform for billions of people worldwide. Founded in 1924, the British company Umbro has been central to this revolution.
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Today, collaborations between sportswear companies and fashion brands are the norm, but Umbro’s collaboration with Paul Smith in 2002 was the first to include a whole range of garments, including jackets, sweatshirts, polo shirts, and T-shirts, as well as luggage and leather accessories. It marked the beginning of this trend. Since then, Umbro has collaborated with over 60 different designers and brands.
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Umbro 100 investigates how this relationship has evolved and its significance for both sportswear and fashion, using over 120 examples drawn exclusively from the Westminster Menswear Archive.
Designers featured in the exhibition include Kim Jones, Aitor Throup, Aries, Palace, Paul Smith, Vetements, Supreme, ALMOSTBLACK, Bikkembergs, Eliminator, Philip Treacy, Slam Jam, Factory Records, FORESOMEONE, Peter Saville, Patta, Off-White, John Smedley, Nigel Cabourn, Christopher Raeburn, Rowing Blazers, NOWHERE FC, Gio Goi, Hanon, House of Holland, KANGHYUK, New Order, Numerals, Sweet Sktbs, R. Newbold, Pretty Green, and N.HOOLYWOOD.
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CURATED BY PROFESSOR ANDREW GROVES AND DR DANIELLE SPRECHER
11 MAY – 11 JUNE 2021
The simple cloth mask, a seemingly non-gendered and unsophisticated object, has rapidly become a symbolic and highly contested artefact since its adoption in response to COVID-19. In particular, the design, marketing, and wearing of these masks have illuminated long-running narratives in menswear concerned with ideas of protection, armour, and masculinity.
For the last year, the Westminster Menswear Archive has been actively collecting masks and face coverings produced in response to COVID-19. In less than 12 months, they have evolved from being a functional PPE object in scarce supply to developing into a distinct new product category produced and marketed by all levels of the fashion industry.
Presented in chronological order, the 52 face coverings in this exhibition represent a cross-section of the millions of face coverings that have been designed, produced, and worn over the last year. Though they may all look quite similar at first glance, closer inspection reveals the complex story of the menswear industry's battle, adaptation, and evolution over the last 12 months.​
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CURATED BY PROFESSOR ANDREW GROVES AND DR DANIELLE SPRECHER
25 OCTOBER – 24 NOVEMBER 2019
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Drawing exclusively from the Westminster Menswear Archive, Invisible Men covers the last 120 years of predominately British menswear through the display of over 170 garments, the majority of which have never been seen on public display.
Opening in October 2019, this four-week exhibition is arranged into twelve sections, presenting designer garments alongside military, functional, and utilitarian outfits. It explores the design language of menswear, which predominately focuses on the replication of repeats archetypal functional garments intended for specific industrial, technical or military use.
Invisible Men will illustrate how designers have disrupted these conventions through minimal, yet significant modifications to produce outcomes that both replicate and subvert their source material. Through this approach, the language of menswear has developed an almost fetishistic appreciation of the working man in all his heroic iterations, referencing the clothing of seafarers, soldiers, athletes, firefighters, road workers, and explorers.
The endless replication, appropriation and interpretation within menswear has meant that the meaning and function of the original archetypes has faded through each reiteration.
This design strategy has, for the most part, allowed men and what they wear to avoid scrutiny: these garments have remained invisible within fashion exhibitions in favour of presenting menswear largely as the story of the dandy or the peacock male.
This exhibition aims to shine a light on these invisible men.
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The Westminster Menswear Archive has actively collaborated with numerous international institutions by lending significant garments for high-profile exhibitions.
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At the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the exhibition Workwear (26 March to 10 September 2023) explored garments associated with labour and functionality. Highlights from the Archive included Moreno Ferrari's iconic 2000 'beekeeper' jacket for C.P. Company, inspired by actual beekeeper suits, alongside distinctive pieces such as a Japanese Sashiko fireman's coat, a 19th-century British workwear smock, a French chainmail apron, British police CBRN overboots, and an American firefighters' proximity suit.
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The exhibition Tartan at V&A Dundee (1 April 2023 to 14 January 2024) celebrated tartan's global influence and cultural significance. Garments lent by the Archive included a 1950s tartan evening jacket, punk bondage trousers by BOY London, a Gucci tartan smock dress, a CC41 Utility sweatshirt top, and a contemporary tartan tracksuit jacket by Palm Angels. Additionally, a couture kilt ensemble by 2022 BA Fashion Design graduate Owen Edward Snaith was displayed.
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At Manchester Art Gallery, the exhibition Dandy Style (7 October 2022 to 1 May 2023) traced 250 years of men's fashion, presenting Archive pieces like a 1989 Grenadier Guards Drummer Tunic by Kashket & Partners Ltd, a late-1980s John Richmond black blazer featuring hand-painted tattoo motifs, and Nicholas Daley's distinctive tracksuit designed for Fred Perry in 2019. Further garments exhibited included Martine Rose's Spring/Summer 2012 printed denim jacket, a BodyMap cotton jersey jumpsuit, and a Craig Green hand-painted jacket from his Autumn/Winter 2014 collection.
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The Archive also contributed significantly to C.P. Company Cinquanta, a retrospective marking 50 years of Italian sportswear, first shown at Base Milano, Italy (15–17 January 2022), and subsequently at Darwen, Lancashire (1–10 October 2021) during the British Textile Biennial. These exhibitions showcased exclusive garments and original materials reflecting Massimo Osti's enduring influence on casual and technical apparel.
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Finally, the Style in Revolt exhibition at T-10/SKP-S in Beijing, China (16 December 2021 to 1 March 2022), examined the evolution and impact of street culture. The Archive loaned garments from 'Witches', Vivienne Westwood, and Malcolm McLaren's influential Autumn/Winter 1983/4 collection for their World's End label, demonstrating the Archive's commitment to documenting significant moments in menswear history.
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Through these global collaborations, the Westminster Menswear Archive has significantly contributed to enhancing public understanding and appreciation of historical and contemporary menswear.