An Audience with Claire Wilcox: How Westwood Drew on Art History

Join us for an exclusive private view of Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary with dinner, followed by an audience with Claire Wilcox, Professor in Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London and Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, Wolfson College, Oxford and Former Senior Curator of Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum including Vivienne Westwood (2004).

Claire shares insights into the creation of the V&A’s show in 2004 and the experience of working with Westwood on both the exhibition and book.   Claire references historical influences Westwood drew on with references to pieces from The Bowes Museum displayed within the exhibition sited in companionship with Westwood outfits.

Whilst at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Claire curated many exhibitions including Radical Fashion (2001), Versace at the V&A (2002), Vivienne Westwood (2004), The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 (2007), From Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s (2013), Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2015), Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up (2018) and Fashioning Masculinities: the Art of Menswear (2022). In 2020 she published Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury) which won the 2021 PEN Ackerley Prize for memoir and autobiography. She is currently working on a companion volume to Patch Work, to be published in 2027.

£50 per person, including Claire’s talk, a welcome drink and a two-course meal. Recommended for adults.

Please contact the events team at events@thebowesmuseum.org.uk if you have any dietary or access requirements, so the evening can be adapted to suit your needs.