Garments Featured in External Exhibitions
The Westminster Menswear Archive regularly loans garments from its extensive collection to external exhibitions at leading museums and cultural institutions worldwide. Our loans allow curators and museums to showcase iconic pieces of menswear fashion, ranging from historical garments to contemporary designs. Exhibitions at institutions such as the V&A, Museum of London, and Nieuwe Instituut have featured garments from our archive, including designs by Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and C.P. Company. These loans enable audiences around the world to engage with the history and innovation of menswear through carefully curated exhibits that span over 250 years of fashion history.
Workwear
The Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam has unveiled a comprehensive new fashion exhibition devoted to workwear, which includes several garments from the Westminster Menswear Archive. It includes an extremely rare jacket known as the beekeeper, designed by Moreno Ferrari in 2000 for the Italian sportswear brand C.P. Company and inspired by the study of actual beekeeper uniforms. In addition, the Westminster Menswear Archive lent an example of contemporary beekeeper attire.
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The Westminster Menswear Archive also loaned a Japanese Sashiko fireman's coat, a 19th-century British workwear smock, a French chainmail apron, a pair of British Police CBRN overboots, and an American firefighters proximity suit.
Tartan
V&A Dundee
1 April 2023 to 14 January 2024
Tartan at the V&A Dundee celebrates the global story of a unique pattern - how the rules of the grid have inspired creativity from the everyday to the sublime. It is Scotland's first major exhibition in 30 years focusing solely on the iconic textile and pattern and features several garments from the Westminster Menswear Archive, including a tartan evening jacket from the 1950s, BOY London punk bondage trousers, a man's tartan smock dress by Gucci, a CC41 Utility sweatshirt top, and a Palm Angels tartan tracksuit jacket.​
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Also on show is an outfit from Owen Edward Snaith, who graduated from Westminster in 2022 and whose outfit was acquired by the archive last year.
Dandy Style
Manchester Art Gallery
7 October 2022 to 1 May 2023
Dandy Style, at the Manchester Art Gallery, explored 250 years of menswear from the 18th century to the present day and included several loans from the Westminster Menswear Archive, including a British Army Grenadier Guards Drummer Tunic made by Kashket & Partners Ltd in 1989. In addition, there was a late 1980s John Richmond double-breasted black blazer with leather sleeves, as well as Nicholas Daley's 2019 orange and dark blue track suit for Fred Perry.
Also included was a Martine Rose printed Jacket, a BodyMap jumpsuit with an asymmetric print and a hand painted canvas Jacket from Craig Green's AW 2014 collection
C.P. Company Cinquanta
Base Milano, Milan
15 – 17 January 2022
The exhibition 'CINQUANTA' features a retrospective of Italian sportswear and casual wear from the past fifty years. The exhibition features exclusive C.P. COMPANY archive pieces alongside original material, the projects that shaped the brand's history, and a special section dedicated to the 50th-anniversary celebrations and collaborations. Several garments from the Westminster Menswear Archive were included including the Transformables tent designed by Moreno Ferrari.
Style in Revolt
T-10/SKP-S, Beijing, China
16 December 2021 – 1 March 2022
In the first exhibition of its kind in China, Style in Revolt is the story of street culture narrated through the lens of its most influential figures. By bringing together the voices of artists, fashion designers, photographers, graphic designers, magazine editors, street culture aficionados and creative polymaths, the exhibition both informs and inspires audiences through an authentic, multi-sensory experience. The archive loaned several garments from Witches, Vivienne Westwood, and Malcolm McLaren's final collection for their World's End label for A/W 1983/4 to the exhibition.
C.P. Company Cinquanta
Darwen, Lancashire
1– 10 October 2021
C.P. Company presents a retrospective dedicated to five decades of Italian sportswear and Massimo Osti's lasting legacy as part of the 2021 British Textile Biennial. The exhibition will include exclusive C.P. Company archive pieces from the label's illustrious history. Along with the exhibition, a series of activities will be held, including student workshops and panel discussions featuring speakers from the brand as well as respected names in sportswear and casual culture.
