British Fashion Council Celebrates 30 Years of NEWGEN With Landmark Exhibition
Honouring 30 years of their talent initiative NEWGEN - set up to enable a group of designers to showcase their collections at London Fashion Week - the Design Museum will host REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion in September.
Honouring 30 years of their talent initiative NEWGEN - set up to enable a group of designers to showcase their collections at London Fashion Week - the Design Museum will host REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion in September.
Since 1993, the British Fashion Council's young talent initiative NEWGEN has been supporting designers by helping them show their collections at London Fashion Week. Having helped the careers of Christopher Kane, JW Anderson, Molly Goddard, Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY, Wales Bonner, Nicholas Daley and even the late Alexander McQueen, it's hard to spot a brand on the London schedule that hasn't come from NEWGEN's support scheme.
Celebrating the success of NEWGEN and all it has offered London fashion, a year's long celebration of NEWGEN 30 will culminate with the landmark exhibition REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion at the Design Museum in London, sponsored by Alexander McQueen with guest curation by Sarah Mower MBE and Rebecca Lewin (BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent and the museum's senior curator). The exhibition itself will raise funds for the BFC Foundation - who offered 1.3 million in grants to scholars and businesses alone last year - so they can continue their support of future growth and success in the British fashion industry. Creative director of Alexander McQueen Sarah Burton commented:
'At McQueen we have always been passionate about supporting creativity and encouraging new talent. The fact that Lee was the first recipient of this award makes this celebration even more significant to us.'
The focus of REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion is to celebrate the talent that's helped London Fashion Week stand as a pillar of the industry for so long and is predicted to be one of the most comprehensive contemporary fashion exhibitions ever staged in the UK, acknowledging the work of 300 designers and featuring over 100 objects - from innovative and trailblazing garments to films, drawings and memorabilia. 'We are thrilled to be celebrating the influence and legacy of our NEWGEN initiative over the next twelve months', noted BFC chief executive Caroline Rush. 'The impact that the initiative has had over the last three decades on homegrown British brands and the global fashion industry cannot be understated. We are grateful to McQueen for their support and look forward to recognising Lee Alexander McQueen alongside the 300-strong alumni of BFC NEWGEN recipients at the brilliant Design Museum this September.'
REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion will be open to the public between 15 September and 11 February 2024. Tickets will go on sale in June, 2023.
