KE & Industry Research
The Westminster Menswear Archive is based within the University of Westminster. It regularly produces research output, through research projects and partnerships.
Massimo Osti Studio
Since 2022, the Westminster Menswear Archive has been documenting the development of the Massimo Osti Studio. As part of this documentation, a sample of each production garment produced in the first year of the Massimo Osti Studio will be accessioned into the Westminster Menswear Archive.
Following initial discussions between Lorenzo Osti and Professor Andrew Groves in March 2022, the Westminster Menswear Archive has been documenting the development of the Massimo Osti Studio and providing both historical and contemporary contextual research in relation to their activities.
Traditionally, fashion museums normally only accession garments into their collections years after their date of production, so that their aesthetic, societal or critical value has already been established. However, as the processes of design, production, and consumption have radically changed in the last decade with the emergence of direct-to-consumer consumption and the rise of limited edition drops, this approach can mean that collections are unable to document the relationship of these processes to the final garments that are produced.
As active participants in this process, the Westminster Menswear Archive has gained a far more comprehensive understanding of the aesthetic, cultural, and industrial contexts that have informed the garments that the Massimo Osti Studio is producing. This knowledge allows for a far more in-depth contextualization of the garments that will be housed in the archive, which will be available to researchers and students so that it may inform their work.
This methodology has been central to the activities of the Westminster Menswear Archive and was itself informed by the garment archive created by Massimo Osti at the beginning of his career. The widespread use of garment archives by designers was a relatively hidden activity at the time, but the practice was central to the establishment of Westminster's MA Menswear course in 2016, which launched concurrently with the archive. It provided students with access to over 2000 archival garments, including a large number of examples of Massimo Osti's work, to support their understanding of materials, fabrication, and design methodologies.
Robert Newman, who is now Head of Design for the Massimo Osti Studio, was among the first cohort of students to graduate from the course and was able to use the archive to inform his design
Alcantara
Key to the Alcantara range is the notion of ideas travelling between far-away people and places resulting in new and unexpected outcomes as they are reinterpreted along the way. This is illustrated by the use of the word pidgeon, both as a means of transporting information to distant locations, most notably during the war, and as pidgin, a language that develops between two or more groups of people who do not share a common language.
Robert Newman, Head of Design stated, “We sent these pieces back and forward between Carre and Glasgow multiple times, Valentina (Head Product Developer on Studio) has referred to them as pigeons, which I like.”
Pidgeon, variant of pigeon, n. 1375 -
A domesticated bird derived from the wild rock dove (Columba livia), noted for its homing abilities, which has been bred in many varieties of form and colour, and is now extremely widespread as a feral bird in towns. The domestic pigeon was originally bred for food and for carrying messages, and more recently for racing and showing. White varieties are often known as doves.
Pidgeon, variation of pidgin, n.1869 -
Originally: pidgin English. Subsequently gen.: a language containing lexical and other features from two or more languages, characteristically with simplified grammar and a smaller vocabulary than the languages from which it is derived, used for communication between people not having a common language; a lingua franca.
ALCANTARA® PIDGEON JACKET
Massimo Osti Studio
2024
Unlined Alcantara jacket with a zip front opening. The jacket's panels are laser cut and the seams are bonded using heat-sensitive mesh tapes, resulting in an opaque plastic effect on the jacket's seams. There is a single patch pocket on the upper left chest with an asymmetrical pocket flap. There are two long vertical zipped pockets towards the front side seams. The sleeve cuffs can be adjusted with poppers and a tab. The jacket features a tall funnel collar with a hidden nylon hood that has an elasticated channel at the back of the head for adjustment. There is a single kidney-shaped internal pocket that closes with a popper. A domed press stud with the Massimo Osti Studio branding is located on the lower left sleeve.
Polyester, polyurethane
Archive no. WMA2024.1.2
Research England awards £167,000 to the Westminster Menswear Archive
University of Westminster receives £167,000 from Research England to enhance the Westminster Menswear Archive. Research England has awarded the University of Westminster just over £167,000 over the next five years to support the Westminster Menswear Archive (WMA).
The award recognises the Westminster Menswear Archive's outstanding contribution to national and international research, as well as innovative collections-based teaching and learning, digital engagement, and public programmes.
The Higher Education Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund provides funding support to higher education museums, galleries and collections so they can meet the costs of serving the wider research community beyond their own institutions.
In 2022-23 the WMA had over 340 general enquiries, and 93 in-person visits by external professionals, academics, and industry representatives. These included researchers and curators from V&A Dundee, the Museum of London, Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, MoMu Antwerp, the Design Museum London, and the Manchester Art Gallery.
While in the same period, the WMA had over 330 external visitors from Higher Education institutions including from the following institutions: Manchester Metropolitan University, Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, University of Brighton, Kingston University, Royal College of Art, University of Manchester, New York University, Nottingham Trent University, Oslo National Academy of Arts, and Sheffield Hallam University.