Best Fashion Exhibitions Opening in 2024
Words by
Maria Sarabi
11th January 2024
2023 was the year for fashion enthusiasts — from Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto at the V&A, to Gucci COSMOS at 180 Studios — we were given the very best that fashion exhibitions have to offer. And, luckily enough, this years line-up promises to be just as dazzling. So, here’s our guide to the best fashion exhibitions opening in 2024 that can’t be missed.
Barbie Dreamhouse
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie masterpiece starring Margot Robbie influenced the Barbie-core fashion trend, with pink being the colour of summer 2023. And if you thought Barbie would be left in 2023 you couldn’t be more wrong. Barbie: The Exhibition will open on the 65th anniversary of the Barbie brand. Curated by Danielle Thom, the exhibition will trace the Barbie legacy that started in 1959 by Ruth Handler. Through a design lens, including fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design, the exhibition will explore the design evolution of the world’s most famous dolls. Partnering with Mattel Inc., the exhibition will feature Barbie archives from California to celebrate the past six-and-a-half decades of Barbie.
Running 5th July 2024 – 23rd February 2025.
Book tickets here
1985 Day to Night Barbie. Photo: Mattel, Inc
Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Atmosphere Collections
Venus and Junon Ball Gowns, Christian Dior
In November 2023, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced the highly anticipated theme for The Costume Institute’s Spring 2024 Exhibition and Gala — Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The Costume Institute Benefit, commonly known as The Met Gala, will take place on 6th May 2024, where A-listers walk the carpet after being paired with designers to create garments that channel the theme. The Met said the theme will explore “notions of rebirth and renewal, using nature as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion”. The exhibition will use first-hand research, conservation analysis, and diverse technologies to reactivate the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection. 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be included. We would advise you book your next trip to New York around these dates as it certainly will be an exhibition not to miss.
Running 10th May to 2nd September 2024.
Book tickets here
Dress, Alexander McQueen Spring 2011
Icons of British Fashion – Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
Icons of British Fashion at Blenheim Palace
It’s time to celebrate British fashion at Blenheim Palace. The exhibition — titled Icons of British Fashion — opens in the spring and showcases British fashion from the past through to the present day. Confirmed world-class designers — Jean Muir, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Jones Millinery for Christian Dior, and many more — will provide bespoke designs and loans for the exhibition. Visitors will travel through the regal Palace, with each room curated to enchantingly honour a British fashion icon. Designs will be embedded in clothing, accessories, archival materials, and photography. Nothing screams high society meets fashion more than a British exhibition hosted in a real Palace.
Running 23rd March to the 30th June 2024.
Book tickets here
Blenheim Icons
Yuima Nakazato: Beyond Couture — La Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode, Calais
YUIMA NAKAZATO, collection Atlas 2021, photo Yasunari Kikuma
YUIMA NAKAZATO, collection EVOKE 2021, photo Shoji Fuji
The Museum of Lace and Fashion will tribute Japanese avantgarde designer Yuima Nakazato through a monographic exhibition. Nakazato focuses on sustainable fashion through a lens of haute couture and traditional Japanese craftmanship. The exhibition will feature over 50 garments from the YUIMA NAKAZATO brand’s 2016-2024 couture collections. Sketches, fabric samples, photos and accessories will be displayed to reveal the creative process behind the greatest designs. The brand’s uniqueness arrives from upcycling materials and waste to better sustainable fashion. Nakazato takes inspiration from nature and Asia, with the garments created through a progressive and sustainable lens.
Running 15th June 2024 to 5th January 2025.
YUIMA NAKAZATO, collection Cosmos 2000, photo Ayumi Hase, courtesy of Shisheido
PAOLO ROVERSI — Palais Galliera Musée de la Mode, Paris
Molly, Chanel, Vogue Italia, Paris
Sihana Shalaj, Comme des Garçons, Paris
Curated by Sylvie Lécallier, The Paolo Roversi exhibition features 140 works of unseen images, polaroid prints and archives that immerse visitors into the career of the Italian fashion photographer. The artist’s unique body of work within the world of fashion has starred in magazines such as Vogue France, Vogue Italia, Egoïste, and Luncheon. Roversi’s signature style is instantly recognisable: soft, sepia-toned black and white, shot in natural light; a density and depth of colour achieved by using a Mag-Lite flashlight. Roversi used a breadth of mediums in his career — from large-format cameras to polaroid and digital photography. The photographer has worked with the world’s leading fashion designers and top models. The exhibition’s scenography aims to take visitors on a poetic journey out of the shade and into the light.
Running 16th March to 14th July 2024.
Audrey, Comme des Garçons, Paris
NAOMI - V&A SOUTH KENSINGTON
NAOMI at the V&A, Photographer Marco Bahler
It is time to celebrate the 40-year career of an original 90s super — Naomi Campbell. The exhibition will feature around 100 looks from the British supermodel’s extensive wardrobe of haute couture and loans from designer archives. Iconic designs by Alexander McQueen, Azzedine Alaïa, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Kenneth Ize, Valentino, Virgil Abloh, Vivienne Westwood, and Yves Saint Laurent will be displayed. An installation curated by Edward Enninful OBE will honour images of Campbell, with the work of leading fashion photographers, such as Nick Knight, Steven Meisel and Tim Walker, included. The exhibition will also praise Campbell’s activism, particularly her campaign for The Diversity Coalition to champion diversity on the catwalk. NAOMI at the V&A also features in our article on the London must-see 2024 exhibitions.
Running from 22nd June 2024.
'La Mode en mouvement' ['Fashion on the Move'] — Palais Galliera, Paris
Peter Knapp, maillots de bain 1971
Fashion on the Move explores the history of fashion from the 18th century to the present day through Palais Galliera’s collections. The exhibition looks to develop a transversal theme on the body in movement. In partnership with the Olympic and Paralympic Games that are to be held in Paris in 2024, the exhibition examines the part played by clothing in physical and sporting activities, its relationship to the body and to movement, and the social consequences of its development. Featuring over 200 works, Fashion on the Move traces how womenswear was adapted for physical activity at the end of the 19th century and the masculinisation of women’s clothing. Ultimately, the exhibition seeks to reveal how the liberation of the body through physical activity has contributed to changing beauty standards.
Running 16th June 2023 to 7th September 2025.
