Fashion & Textile Museum, London

Lots of exciting textile events happening here this year. Including MISSONI opening in May.

11 March – 17 April : Discover textile history, tradition, design and making at the Fashion and Textile Museum Festival of Textiles. A series of displays, talks and workshops brings together some of the best and brightest textile developers, artists and designers now working in the UK. Curated by Mary Schoeser, Diana Harrison and Linda Brassington, the Festival aims to illuminate contemporary practice and open minds to the ways in which textiles enrich lives.

ART TEXTILES: Marian Clayden: A retrospective of luxurious art textiles in silk, velvet, cotton and felted wool by internationally collected designer Marian Clayden. The exhibition celebrates the influence of a British-born artist (1937–2015) who transformed psychedelic tie-dyed fabrics into a million-dollar fashion business in the United States. Curated by Mary Schoeser, the globally respected historian, Art Textiles takes a close look at the shibori dyeing techniques used by Clayden, revealing how simple methods can create complex, sumptuous effects

Textiles Surface and Structure is a display of work, designed and made on the BA Hons Textiles course at UCA Farnham. Led by artist and designer Sharon Ting, the course forms part of the only School of Crafts and Design in the UK and aims to fuse traditional skills with innovative materials-based textile design. The display in the Fashion Studio features work by Ting as well as that of final year students and recent graduates including Joanne Hayward, Janice Webb, Louise Anderson, Charlotte Stewart, Alice Howard-Graham, Christine Teeling, Ceri Buller, Ellie Rothero and Claire Hunsinger.

Chemistry for Couture features the practice-based research of metal horticulturalist Jo Horton. The electro-chemically grown stitch and embellishment techniques developed by Horton are informed by the history of bespoke, handmade, metallic textiles for fashion since the 16th century. At the centre of the display will be two outfits showing electro-formed embellishment created as part of Horton’s post graduate research at De Montfort University.

Gesture in Cloth is an installation of works selected to represent a breadth of approach as taken by seven professionals. Curated by Linda Brassington, it reflects her current doctoral research exploring craft and the notion of making in textiles as an intervention with materials – a subtle balance between the artist’s hand and material properties. Featuring work by Louise Renae Anderson, Sally Greaves-Lord, Diana Harrison, Robert Moon, Ann Richards, Mary Restieaux and Brassington herself, visitors can observe the varying ways in which each artist has developed a growing personal language in fibre, thread and cloth, chemicals, dyes and pigments. In their different ways, each piece demonstrates a transformation of textile substance. Together, they form a collection of ideas in the making: gesture in cloth.

MISSONI ART COLOUR    6 May – 4 September 2016
Explore the creative process of Italian fashion house Missoni and the textiles of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in the context of 20th century fine art. One of the most respected exponents of the ‘Made in Italy’ concept, the work of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni is deeply rooted in modern art making the Missoni brand distinctive in the world of international fashion.

MISSONI ART COLOUR showcases over 60 years of fashion alongside paintings by leading 20th century European artists, and previously unseen textile studies, paintings and Arazzi by Ottavio Missoni. The personal artwork of Missoni is mixed with modernist masterpieces, including the work of Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana and Gino Severini, that have influenced Ottavio and Rosita in the development of their signature graphic style. These works are drawn from the MA*GA Art Museum, Gallarate and from private collections in Italy, and the majority have never been exhibited in the UK. The selection of fashion looks, designed by Angela Missoni since 1997, is drawn from the company’s archive, starting in 1953 to the present day.

Organised by the MA*GA Art Museum in collaboration with Missoni, the exhibition celebrates a family firm that has become an international success by combining craft expertise, materials and the latest design trends. Merino wool is featured in many of the garments on display, showcasing the heritage and cultural history of the Missoni family’s association with wool.