The Catwalk Comes to Dundee
Words by: Brian James
When it ends in mid- March the post Fashion Month reality comedown can hit hard, leaving us wanting more but knowing it’s another six months until we get our next fix of stellar collections and next level street style.
A small Scottish city is providing the antidote to that fashion vacuum. Dundee known as the “City of Discovery” is experiencing a creative and cultural renaissance, much of it driven by V&A Dundee which opened in 2018, the sole Victoria & Albert museum outside of London.
V&A Dundee’s latest exhibition “Catwalk:The Art of the Fashion Show” opened to the public on the 3rd April.
It offers a rare opportunity to journey through 100 years of catwalk history exploring the cultural significance of the fashion show from early 20th century Parisian salons to today’s global live streamed extravaganzas. Bringing together original collection pieces, film and photographic material and other memorabilia it charts iconic moments from those 100 years.
Featuring the work of fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Dior, Gucci and Yohji Yamamoto and ,exclusive to Dundee, Christopher Kane, Nicholas Daley and Charles Jeffrey, it also takes us backstage to that often unseen world where a host of creatives work tirelessly to ensure the designer’s vision is runway ready. Spread across four rooms, each with a distinct theme , it’s an immersive and occasionally subversive journey through catwalk history.
Prior to opening to the public , a preview was held to which Original were invited, along with a host of fabulous humans from Scotland and beyond. Also in attendance were the exhibition’s Ambassadors, stellar designers Charles Jeffrey and Nicholas Daley, hair and beauty royalty Sam McKnight and Val Garland , renowned photographer Robert Fairer and Scottish cultural architects the artist Trackie McLeod, model and musician Lucia Fairfull and multi-discipline, multi-hyphenate Eunice Olumide.
We spoke to a number of the Ambassadors to ask them what they thought of “Catwalk” and what impact it might have.
Robert Fairer has documented the fashion show for over three decades and provided some of the exhibition’s photographs. In terms of selecting them he told us “We have an archive of 1.5 million images to choose from. It's a fine balance between showing the backstage that people
expect would be chaos but isn’t , its magic and showing the backstage I’ve experienced…it’s a very collaborative environment and none of it could happen without all the disciplines”.
Asked how the industry has changed during his storied career he said “It’s almost unrecognisable. There’s been a huge change since 1993 when I started. We had no mobile phones, no phone cameras, there was no one backstage, no Instagram. The photographs that were taken were taken to be published in magazines or newspapers and the backstage area was a very niche, misunderstood , almost non-existent area. Fast forward to today and the doors have been blown open. There’s very little mystique and the pictures are almost out there before they’ve been taken… in some respects that’s maybe where we are in the modern day, the viewer has to be the Editor as well so you’re doing the Editors work”.
As someone who was part of so many of the exhibitions; fashion moments we were interested to know what he was most keen to see. Pointing to an iconic piece from Alexander McQueens 1999 collection “No 13” Robert told us“ I photographed the show but have never been able to get closer than ten metres to it”.
The McQueen connection was expanded on by industry icon Val Garland who told us “I’m not interested in the ordinary, I’m interested in the extraordinary. I like something that’s not perfect. I remember Lee saying there’s beauty in the darkest corners”.
As someone who famously works with aspiring creatives we were interested to hear Val’s views on how she hoped the exhibition might inspire that next generation. “ The thing is we didn’t all come from the centre of creativity, I was born in Birmingham and grew up in Bristol so have always been a bit of an outsider. What I hope this can achieve is by showing what actually is involved in a show, the beauty, the hair, the clothing, that in itself inspires people to hopefully want to get into this profession”.
In terms of what advice she’d give to those wanting to make it their career Val felt that with the advent of AI ,choosing a discipline such as beauty, where you’re doing make-up on real people was one that’s less susceptible to that new technology than others. She told us “If I can do it, so can you, you just have to graft and don’t look at anyone else’s work, just believe in yourself and you’ll get there”.
She loved the exhibitions backstage footage “To see some of the shows I was a part of, reliving that magic, panic , desperation, also seeing other shows, there’s a black and white film of a Mary Quant show, it’s just fab”.
Someone who’s worked with Val on so many seminal fashion shows is Ayrshire born hair stylist Sam McKnight whose appointment book reads like a who’s who of 20th and 21st cultural icons.
He said “ I feel really honoured to have been asked to be an Ambassador. There are an awful lot of Scottish creatives behind the scenes in hair, make-up, design and everything and I think it’s really nice to highlight that”.
He continued “Listening to the opening speeches it was interesting that they were very focused on what went on behind the scenes as well as what goes on front-of- house. Val and I are very much behind the scenes and I think people are now much more interested in the process rather than the finished thing or equally as interested”.
Mindful of the industry’s shortcomings as well as its opportunities for self-expression and creativity he works with the Fashion and Beauty Councils and BECTU, the creatives Union, to improve recognition and rights for industry workers Asked how he felt the relationship between hair and fashion had evolved during his career he told Original “It’s a very simple yet very complex relationship…. I’m really conveying the designers message for that season…. my job is to give him or her a look that brings their vision of this man or woman to life ... .it’s selling clothes, but also selling a feeling… hair and makeup absolutely set the tone”.
Another London-based Scot, one returning to his home town, was designer Nicholas Daley, His Mum comes from the Lochee area of Dundee and his parents met in the city.
Daley told Original “I think since the V&A has been here and the impact it’s had in the city along with other organisations like the DCA and the University, have brought a new wave of creativity. I think Dundee’s always had a history of that and I think it’s cool that in my career I’ve had this link with the city and my roots here”
A designer that brings an innovative approach to his shows, Original were at his A/W18 show held at the Swiss Church in Covent Garden where Yussef Dayes and fellow new wave jazz musicians played a set dressed in Nicholas Daley. Comparing that with what he’d seen in the exhibition Nicholas said “When you look at some of the images in the exhibition of fashion shows in France in the 1920s and 1930s they’re sitting around conversating , having a vibe , touching the clothes, it’s not that dissimilar to the approach at the Swiss Church show”.
He expanded on that desire to show in different ways saying “ Like a lot of designers of my generation we’ve done shows in churches, working men’s clubs, pubs, music venues, concert halls. I’ve pushed the boundaries of where a fashion show can be held and how it’s presented.
Having reggae dub sound systems in the middle of a runway show, having models play instruments on the runway. We’ve had jazz musicians Shabaka Hutchings and Theon Cross at another Church where we showed our collection “Astro Black”.
For Nicholas Daley coming back to his roots and familial connections is something that’s key to him, and his brand’s, identity. He tells us he’s worked with a number of Scottish mills over the years and also worked with Glasgow School of Art students to create a collection inspired by his work. His philosophy is “I want to try and support and celebrate and, through my work, show other designers what you can do and talk about your roots, heritage, craft and storytelling which Scotland has so much of”.
Charles Jeffrey is another who draws on those roots “ I think the fact that I’m Scottish and that this is my culture is something that I like to dig deep into and really can passionately create products with…. It’s just great to come up here and be in Scotland , I don’t get the chance to come up as much as I’d like”.
His fashion inspiration crystallized in the early 2000’s , the nascent internet era of “My Space” and the arrival of Facebook. That access to fashion online was accompanied by an explosion of music. With both elements fusing to inspire him, Charles said “I was getting into the bands that I loved as well as seeing London as a home for these designers but then I was looking at someone like Christopher Kane blowing up doing his graduate collection and then doing Versus for Versace”. He also cites his High School teacher Miss Corbett as an influence who encouraged him to think differently.
Asked how he hopes the exhibition can be an inspiration to others he said “I think it’s so important that institutions like this (V&A Dundee) are seen as bastions for culture, that change people’s perspectives and see that the fashion catwalk isn’t an exclusive situation but as a celebration of different people coming together to create something beautiful” For Charles Jeffrey that beauty is exemplified in the room containing work from the 1920’s by Poiret and Dior which he was looking forward to exploring in more detail.
While Charles was previously at Model Team Scotland model and musician Lucia Fairfull is with the agency now. She told us that being an Ambassador and working with the V&A has been an incredible experience “We shot the campaign a few months before the exhibition opening and when it came round to the opening I spent a couple of days with the V&A team… It felt like I’d known them all much longer because we were all mutually invested in bringing this magical and wondrous exhibition to Scotland, which is not like anything we have had here before”.
Having worn some of the incredible pieces on display we asked Lucia which had spoken to her the most “I wore the beautiful and whimsical hand dyed Charles Jeffery dress for the campaign which is on display. We shot about 7/8 looks and this was the last one we shot, it was instantly obvious that this was the piece that would take the lead in the campaign which feels full circle for me because Charles was one of the first designers that I had worked with. Althogh my look itself isn’t on display there are looks from the Dior cruise 2025 which I was lucky enough to close at Drummond Castle… they really did want to celebrate Scottish culture and its creative community”.
Telling Original about her own personal style she explained “ I’ve always been a bit of a chameleon when it comes to style and have never felt like I fully wanted to give myself over to dressing one certain way. I’m very inspired by 70s and 90s music, natural elements, folklore and traditional Scottish dress… when it comes to stage looks, which I would say is still my personal style, maybe it’s just a more heightened version... I love to collaborate with lots of different designers and brands but a lot of the time I am wearing pieces from my wardrobe too which mostly comes from buying and selling on depop or vintage shops”
As to what she hopes the exhibition can do to tell the fashion industry’s story she said “ I think it’s going to be a really eye opening experience for younger generations to see just how many different creative forces it takes for these shows to all play out. A lot of kids will have grown up in rural areas (like myself) and probably be quite shut off from this world but I think this exhibition is such an immersive journey that sparks so many different feelings and emotions, ones that I can only imagine will inspire people to dream bigger”
Running until January 2027 “Catwalk : The Art of the Fashion Show” promises to provide that inspiration in abundance.
