Ossie Clark / Celia Birtwell explores the life and work of legendary fashion designer Ossie Clark. His glamorous rock-and-roll designs, which featured distinctive prints designed by collaborator and wife Celia Birtwell, made him one of the most iconic and influential figures in London during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Ossie Clark’s skills as a pattern cutter and innate understanding of fit and form, combined with Celia Birtwell’s romantic and playful prints inspired by the Ballet Russe and Art Deco, created a legacy that continues to shape style today.
Ossie Clark / Celia Birtwell draws on a private collection of Clark’s designs that covers his career from early work through to his later fashion collections.
PRE-BOOK TICKETS NOWAbout the curators
Teresa Collenette is a design historian (V&A/RCA History of Design MA) with a special interest in the material culture of scissors. Her 2018 exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, The Secret Life of Scissors explored the complex lives of scissors as ambiguous ‘things’ surrounded by superstition, myth and symbolism. Teresa has worked on a number of Fashion and Textile Museum exhibitions including, Liberty in Fashion, 1920s Jazz Age, Night & Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs, The World of Anna Sui, Zandra Rhodes: 50 Years of Fabulous, Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture and Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern.
Dennis Nothdruft is Head of Exhibitions at the Fashion and Textile Museum. He has led the exhibitions team at the Museum since it was founded by Zandra Rhodes in 2003 and previously spent many years working as a design assistant in Zandra Rhodes studios in both San Diego and London. He has lectured widely on many aspects of fashion and textiles and has authored several books including Zandra Rhodes 50 Fabulous Years in Fashion, How to Draw like a Fashion Designer, How to Draw Vintage Fashion, Kaffe Fassett the Artist’s Eye and A History of Fashion for Children.
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In place of a permanent display, the Fashion and Textile Museum hosts a diverse programme of temporary exhibitions, displaying a broad range of innovative fashion and textiles from designers and makers around the world.
On arrival: Please ensure you arrive within the first 20 minutes of your chosen entry time, for example if your ticket is for 11am please arrive between 11.00 and 11.20am. Please do not arrive early as you will be refused entry. There is no waiting area in the museum. Upon entry, please present your ticket(s) on your device or a note of your booking reference number.
Eating and drinking: No food or drink is permitted in the Museum, other than bottled water. The Fashion and Textile Museum is located in the heart of Bermondsey Street, surrounded by award-winning restaurants, cafes and pubs. So, if you would like to enjoy a meal or a drink before or after your visit, there is plenty to choose from.For more information, check out our plan your visit page or our FAQs.