Fashion and Textile Museum to hold Jazz Age exhibition

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Jul 30, 2016

This autumn will see the opening of a major new Jazz Age exhibition at London's Fashion and Textiles Museum, "1920s Jazz Age: Fashion & Photographs."

The 1920's were an interesting age for fashion, as the period after the Great War offered women a completely new style of dressing. This exhibition will showcase more than 150 pieces from a major private collection, including kimonos, beaded eveningwear, fringed flapper dresses, and velvet capes.

The layout of the exhibition is a tribute to cinema and its influence on Jazz Age style. Visitors start out in a dark movie theatre that shows silent film clips, before entering the main gallery, which is presented as a film sound stage and features ten scenes and 100 outfits.

"Jazz Age" will also feature photos by James Abbe, which give a candid commentary on early 20th century celebrity.

Dennis Nothdruft, Curator of 1920s Jazz Age Fashion, said: “In the 1920s women’s fashion became a bellwether of the social and cultural changes that defined the decade. The dizzying array of choices, and not just the tubular drop-waist dress immediately associated with the era, allowed the modern woman unprecedented opportunities to express herself.”

The exhibition is on from September 23 to January 15.