The museum is open
Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11.00 – 18.00
Fashion and Textile Museum
83 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3XF
The closest station is London Bridge,
accessible by National Rail
and London Underground.
Zandra Rhodes, a fashion and textile designer and an icon of British design, founded the Fashion and Textile Museum in 2003. in a former cash-and-carry warehouse in Bermondsey.
Ricardo Legorreta, a Mexican architect, was commissioned by Zandra Rhodes herself to convert it into the museum we know today.
Today, the Museum is operated by Newham College – one of Europe’s largest further education colleges. In addition to the exhibition space, the building contains a textile studio and printing workshop and private residential quarters.
The museum is committed to presenting varied, creative and engaging exhibitions, educational courses, talks, events and workshops. Its collection highlights the changing face of contemporary fashion from 1947 to the present day. All items in the collection relate to the design and production of fashion and textiles, with a number of key garments from designers including Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Biba, Mary Quant, and Vivienne Westwood.
Textiles: The Art of Mankind celebrates the ancient and deep entanglement between textiles, people and our world. Through the beauty of textiles, you will encounter human ingenuity that can be traced from pre-history to our digital age.
Told through themes spanning materials, identity, collaboration, and sustainability, the exhibition explores how craft and creativity connects society. This is a rare chance to see objects never before exhibited in the UK; a vibrant textile from Panama depicting a mermaid to represent fertility, a stunning wall hanging reflecting on Sardinia’s history of occupation, or an ingenious ceremonial bag shaped like a human hand suggesting a welcome gesture.