The UK is home to a variety of museums and galleries that host permanent and seasonal fashion and textile exhibitions.

In 2024, highlights include the Icons of British Fashion exhibition which opens at Blenheim Palace in March and features brands and designers such as Barbour, Bruce Oldfield, Stella McCartney, Turnbull & Asser, Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes. Fashion City at the Museum of London Docklands until 14 April explores how Jewish Londoners shaped global style, encompassing traditional tailor’s workshops in the East End through to the glitz and glamour of a Carnaby Street boutique at the height of the Swinging Sixties.

The Regenerative Fashion Hub, opening later this month, is the on-the-high street exhibition in east London of research conducted by the Textiles Circularity Centre on sustainable apparel-textiles. INSPIRED: The Art of Making Historical Fashion in Halifax showcases fashion makers from across the country who design and make clothing based on historical dress. It explores the process of how you go from a museum garment or fashion plate to producing an item of historically inspired dress that is ready to wear.

Discover some of the latest exhibitions, galleries and museums below…

• The Fabric of Democracy: Propaganda Textiles from the French Revolution to Brexit

Fashion & Textile Museum, London

Until 3 March 2024

Visit https://www.fashiontextilemuseum.org/exhibitions/the-fabric-of-democracy

• The Fashion Show: Everything But The Clothes

V&A Dundee, Scotland

Until 10 March 2024

Visit https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/whatson/exhibitions/the-fashion-show

• Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto

V&A Museum, London

Until 10 March 2024

Visit https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/gabrielle-chanel-fashion-manifesto

• Crossing the warp – Thread by Thread exhibition

Whitchurch Silk Mill, Whitchurch

Until 17 March 2024

Visit https://whitchurchsilkmill.org.uk/event/crossing-the-warp-thread-by-thread-exhibition/

• Regenerative Fashion Hub (an exhibition of research conducted by the Textiles Circularity Centre on sustainable apparel-textiles)

Rich Mix, Bethnal Green, London

23 February – 21 March 2024

Visit https://textilescircularity.rca.ac.uk/join-us-at-rich-mix-in-shoreditch-for-the-regenerative-fashion-hub-2024/

(The main image above shows the Regenerative Fashion Hub launch at Lab E20, October 2022. Photo credit: Ezzidin Alwan.)

• Tribes – International Textile Exhibition

Until 1 April 2024

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, Cumbria

Visit https://www.farfieldmill.org/international-textile-exhibition-tribes/

• Fashion City

Until 14 April 2024

Museum of London Docklands, London

Visit https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands/whats-on/exhibitions/fashion-city

• Umbro 100: Sportswear x Fashion

Westminster Menswear Archive explores 100 years of British sportswear, University of Westminster NW1 5LS

12 – 28 April 2024

Visit https://www.mensweararchive.com/umbro100

• Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art 

13 February – 26 May 2024

Barbican Art Gallery, London

Visit https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2024/event/unravel-the-power-and-politics-of-textiles-in-art

• The Biba Story, 1964-1975

22 March – 8 September 2024

Fashion & Textile Museum, London

Visit https://www.fashiontextilemuseum.org/exhibitions/the-biba-story-1964-1975

• Icons of British Fashion (pictured above)

23 March – 30 June 2024

Blenheim Palace Oxfordshire, OX20 1UL

Visit https://www.blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/events/icons-of-british-fashion/

• Unpicking Couture

Until 12 January 2025

Manchester Art Gallery

Visit https://manchesterartgallery.org/event/unpicking-couture/

• Inspired: The Art of Making Historical Fashion

Bankfield Museum, Halifax, West Yorkshire

Until 21 December 2024

Visit https://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/inspired-art-making-historical-fashion

• ‘Flax-to-Fabric’ exhibition

Permanent Exhibition

Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum, Lisburn

Visit https://www.lisburnmuseum.com/whats-on/flax-to-fabric-the-story-of-irish-linen/

• Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk 

V&A Dundee, Scotland

Opening Saturday 4 May 2024

Visit https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/whatson/exhibitions/kimono

• Andy Warhol: The Textiles

North Gallery, South Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

26 January – 18 May 2024

Visit https://dovecotstudios.com/whats-on/andy-warhol-the-textiles

• Future Observatory: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe

Design Museum, London (Level 2)

September 2024 – August 2025

Visit https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/future-observatory-tomorrows-wardrobe

UK Fashion & Textile Museums and Galleries

Fashion & Textile Museum (London)

Victoria & Albert Museum (London)

Museum of London (London)

Design Museum (London)

Fashion Museum (Bath)

Blandford Fashion Museum (Dorset)

Devonshire Collection of Period Costume (Devon)

Gallery of English Costume (Manchester)

Quarry Bank Mill (Cheshire)

Helmshore Mills Textile Museum (Lancashire)

Queen Street Mill (Lancashire)

York Castle Museum (York)

Macclesfield Silk Museums (Macclesfield)

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery (Northampton)

Wardown Park Museum (Luton)

Whitchurch Silk Mill (Hampshire)

Framework Knitters Museum (Nottingham)

Nottingham Industrial Museum (Nottinghamshire)

Coldharbour Mill (Devon)

The Bowes Museum (County Durham)

SCOTLAND

Museum of Ayrshire Country Life & Costume (Kilwinning, Scotland)

Borders Textile Towerhouse (Hawick, Scotland)

Shetland Textile Museum (Böd of Gremista, Lerwick, Shetland)

WALES

National Wool Museum (Drefach Felindre, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire Wales)

Newtown Textile Museum (Newtown, Powys, Wales)

NORTHERN IRELAND

Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum (Lisburn, Northern Ireland)

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Folk & Costume Museum (Guernsey)

This is by no means an exhaustive list. To add a museum or exhibition, please contact info@ukft.org