“Washed Up” at Selfridges

For the past 5 weeks, Selfridges of Oxford Street has played host to Project Ocean, partnering with more than 20 environmental and conservation groups to celebrate the beauty of the ocean, highlight the issue of over-fishing, help us all understand the threats to the ocean and make positive choices about the right fish to buy and eat.

As part of Project Ocean, there was a great exhibition in The Concept Store in Wonder Room area called “Washed Up”, a fashion exhibition curated By Judith Clark (she is a Reader in the Field of Fashion and Museology at the London College of Fashion, where she is a lecturer on the MA Fashion Curation). Here is her introduction to “Washed Up”:

“Washed Up celebrates fashion’s creative debt to the ocean. The exhibition’s landscape is created from dead coral seized from illegal smugglers at British customs and kept in the Aquarium at London Zoo. Now drained of its colour, the coral is a poignant reminder of the destruction of the ocean’s beauty and life-sustaining resources….. The objects in this exhibition have been selected to reflect the changing nature of the ocean’s inspiring depth….. Recent avant-garde fashion has been inspired by the complex structures that we witness so startling here when we get closer to the coral, from the distance a pile of quasi-urban rubble.”

The exhibition showcased 26 ocean-inspired couture garments and accessories from mostly British designers as well as Judith Clark’s own costume archive, arranged in 13 different categories related to different aspects of sea life such as “Structure & Geometry”, “Underwater Flora”, “Atlantis” and “Radiolarium”.

Although small, this exhibition contains many iconic runway pieces from renowned British designers, and it was amazing to be able to see these such textural showpieces so close up:

Hussein Chalayan: “Bubble dress” (SS/07) with Swarovski, and “Airbourne LED Dress” (Feb ’08)

McQueen’s Jellyfish ensemble and Jellyfish print dress from the now infamous “Plato’s Atlantis” collection (left & middle), and Andrea Cammarosano’s “Seaweed Dress” (right)

Iris van Herpen’s most amazing “Escapism Couture” dress and “Crystallization” 3D print top & skirt

Iris van Herpen’s “Radiation Invasion” dress and Gareth Pugh’s Fishscale dress (SS’11)

Sandra Backlund’s beautiful Origami top made from paper (2007)

Along the Wonder Wall, there were a selection of fantastic head wear, including Philip Treacy’s silver crystal lobster that worn by Lady Gaga:

(From Left to Right) Philip Treacy, Steven Jones and Naomi Filmer

And in the windows along Orchard Street were more see life inspired millinery:

Works by Emma Yeo, Philip Treacy, Justin Smith Esquire, Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones for W&LT by Walter Van Beirendonck

Work by Dai Rees (for Alexander McQueen), Emma Yeo, Zara Gorman, and Philip Treacy

• For more information on Project Ocean at Selfridges, click here
• For more information on curator Judith Clark, click here
• To donate to Project Ocean, click here
• To download the Project Ocean App, click here