Workshop Missoni. Daring to be Different

The seed of this exhibition was planted over two years ago when Maggie Norden of the London College of Fashion brought to the museum a selection of photographs illustrating her work in progress for the film The Black and White of Colour, which accompanies this exhibition. We could immediately see that the fit between the designs of Missoni and the works in our collection was perfect. Many meetings later, the exhibition started to take shape. It was always important for the Estorick Collection not only to show the beautiful clothes and designs produced by Missoni over their fifty-year career, but also to make our public aware of the close connection between art and the Missonis' idea of fashion. The link with Futurism is especially strong, not only in terms of the celebratory use of colour and a dynamic, geometric vocabulary, but through the shared belief that applied art can be just as effective a medium for the creative impulse as painting or sculpture. (Roberta Cremoncini, Director Estorick Collection) Catalogue edited by Paola Noè.