Fashion and Textile Museum

One of my favourite museums, whenever I'm in London I visit, every exhibition I have been to has been wonderful.

Your Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s Londonniw at the fashion and textile museum is a gem of an exhibition, clearly illustrating how the aesthetics of the late 80s influenced what lately asserted itself as a non conformism to the rigid stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Leigh Bowery, Troyan, Susanne Bartsch, Pam Hogg, Vivienne Westwood, Katharine Hamnett, together with TastyTim, Rachel Auburn, Philip Salon, Roy Brown and many others, shaped what became the alternative London scene, with clubs like Blitz, the Mud club, and shops that were groundbreaking like Sex, Sign of the times, Biba, plus Kensington market a precursor of what we had later on with Camden Market, a place were creativity and new sartorial rules and looks were created, giving inspiration to the late Alexander McQueen with his bum showing trousers directly referencing the alternative, bondage look that created the don’t mess with me McQueen woman! Those people made a difference, challenged the status quo, went against the Thatcher obscurantism of Clause 28 and the previous government act that made life for queer people impossible and illegal. In this case fashion was not an ornament, it was a political stance, and it was effective if you think about the political slogans on the Hamnett T-shirt that declared choose life or any other relevant message. This is all very well documented and shown with the garments that are on display and wrrr kindly borrowed from some celebrities and from the archives of Browns, a shop that is now established, but that was groundbreaking when it was created, and have voice to an incredible array of talented people. A really good exhibition that goes far beyond the fashion and textile museum boundaries, showing us that clothes and fashion can, and should, ask questions to the establishment. Plus challenging the status quo is necessary in the current political climate, and the power of clothes, fashion, creativity, and the arts in general, should never be underestimated in order to raise the consciousness of the people. Go and see it !

I always love coming here - it's a gorgeous bright building in a great part of town and exhibitions here are always interesting. The current one 'The Art of Mankind' wasn't brilliantly curated unfortunately. Apart from the outdated title (Humankind would’ve been more accurate and much more appealing) there wasn't enough background or information about each piece; the text that was provided was badly lit and placed at knee height, and often quite far away from the piece it was related to. It was also difficult to work out which text was for which textile as the numbers were tiny and badly placed. We ended up just enjoying the fabrics and not bothering to find out what they actually were. A bit of a shame.

Impressive small museum on the Southside. I loved the current exhibition "Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of Leigh Bowery's London," shining a light on the specific milieu of 1980s London. Nice building designed by the Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta (1931-2011), which reminded me of buildings by fellow Mexican architect Luis Barragan (1902-1988).

Well curated exhibition that centres on Leigh Bowery in London during the mid 1980s. Bowery expressed himself through the creation and wearing of elaborate costumes. As creator of the London night club, Taboo, Leigh played an important role in the club culture of the 1980s.

Besides being a spectacular building, the staff were super friendly and helpful. It’s not a large museum but I found the space to be well utilised. The Andy Warhol exhibition running in Summer 2023 lends really interesting context as a precursor to his work as a pop art pioneer.

Visited "Textiles: The Art of Mankind" exhibition. Wonderful exhibits and descriptions but very hard to work out what exhibit each description referred to! Staff happy to chat in front of exhibits, and so blocking view and staff also happy to rush through doorways pushing visitors out of the way.

I’ve visited the museum three times now, photos are of my most recent visit the 1930s Night and Day exhibit. It’s a lovely layout and always well presented. Staff are friendly and the ticket prices are reasonable for the exhibit. Only issue is the cloak room isn’t monitored so I do fear putting my coat in there if it’s an expensive one. Other than that a great place to spend an afternoon or evening, love the complimentary wine on some of my visits.

A solid 4 stars for people visiting just past Tower Bridge. They have a student discount and change exhibitions (only 1 on display at a time) every few months. The next one will be in mid June. Time arrived: a 3pm visit after we had just swung in from Maltby St Market. We arrived at a splash of color and a huge display introducing the works of Mary Quaint and the change in fashion post-WWII. Exhibition itself: The clothing and mixes of color were well met with an interesting straight forward walking path, but full of turns and different designs with each corner. I think the changes of color, textures, fabrics and overall variation and creativity of space usage was excellent. Tips/Takeaways: -Mary Quaint exhibition through early June 2019, next one mid June 2019 -Student discounts available -A fun 1h visit roughly to see the whole exhibit. Fun if you happen across Maltby St Market on a Sunday afternoon.

I love this little museum tucked away behind London Bridge Station. It only has one exhibition at the time that takes up the whole of it's two floors. You can take one of it's free tours or walk around on your own. It's well worth it.

I came here for the opening night party for the retrospective exhibition of Foale and Tuffin, the 1960s fashion designers. The split level venue was packed with champagne-swilling revelers. I saw Paul Smith and, regrettably, did not stroll over to say hello. Yes, I would have been that horrible American who would've asked if we could take a picture together but before I could, he was gone. And he was such a dashing silver fox too. . . Don't miss this Bermondsey Street museum's gift shop - in it you'll find a collection of unique jewelery, handbags and books. I'm still thinking about the clutch I didn't purchase!

For a start, I just love the look of the building - it's modern, quirky and colourful. I was pretty excited to come to this place. I went to see the "Bill Gibb's Moment In Time" exhibition here, back in October. This was a retrospective of London fashion designer, Bill Gibb's, a prevalent figure in 20th Century fashion. I had a really great day. I love, love, love fashion and art so this was perfect for me. My friend enjoyed herself too, we loved the clothes, the costumes around the gallery and the great feel of the place. This is a perfect starting point for those into fashion and design, not as boring as I thought at all and I can't wait to go back soon!

I went here today to see the Bill Gibb's exhibition and it was really good. Although the museum is really small, the quality of the exhibits is so high that the £3 student entry is totally justified. The exhibition space is split into two levels and the clothes are hanging from the ceiling, not behind glass cases like in most costume galleries. They also have large film projection on one wall and play music throughout the exhibit to complement the exhibition; in this case 1970s pop music. The shop here is also brilliant as it sells not only fashion books but also bags and hats made by small scale London designers. The whole feeling of the gallery is really young and experimental. It's a lovely place to visit even if you're not a fashion expert, you'll still enjoy the beautifully set up exhibitions.

I have a passion for fashion so this museum really ticks all my boxes. A wonderful open space that has a selection of fantastic designers old and new showcasing their work at different times of the year. Their exhibitions are small but interesting, really exploring the history of both fashion and textiles through the years. If you're in the area pop by, they have a fabulous gift shop with very cool local independent designers selling their goods, a wonderful selection of fashion books and a cute café that's perfect for a coffee and cake pit-stop. It's another gem on Bermonsey Street!

I came with a group of people to the FTM for a guided tour of the Thea Porter exhibition. Our guide clearly loved her job and was good at giving tours. She was comfortable, knew her subject manner, and spoke appropriately to the audience (in this case, moi excepted, about 15 women over the age of 60, and a token husband). The FTM has changing exhibitions that fill its small but adequate 2 levels of space. The Thea Porter exhibition was set up with some vignettes that were interesting, as well as general displays of clothes. A video played (a bit loudly, really) which was a nice change of pace. It wasn't very busy when we went on a weekday afternoon. We were there for over an hour but I think most people on their own were in and out in about 30 minutes. It is bit of a walk from London Bridge, lengthened by all the works they're doing (so you have to walk all the way around), but it's not more than 10 minutes away. The shop and café were both busy and popular. I would say that if an exhibition sounds interesting, it's definitely worth the trip. If you're not big on fashion, or the current exhibition, give it a miss and wait for the next exhibition to open, as it'll be all change!

The first time I came to this museum I saw a Zandra Rhodes's Exhibition: A life long love affair with textiles. At the time I knew very litttle about this eccentric pink headed lady. Curiously, the current exhibition is a contemporary of Rhodes; Billy: Bill Gibb's Moment in Time. It is an inspiring array of colours, prints, knitwear, haute couture pieces and gowns from the designer's 70s collection. Some were truly astonishing, the amount of detail and passion in each gown was overwhelming. His signature was dresses of romantic and historical inspiration textured with print, pattern, embroidery, beadwork and leather. The clean crisp presentation of his work makes it a breeze and delight to look at, very easy to digest and nicely completed with visuals and audio. After your done, having a nice glass of wine at the museum's bar is a must. Take a nosey around the gift shop too, some really nice souvenirs and gifts that will satisfy any fashion lover out there.