Fashion and Textile Museum: 'Costume Couture' Sixty Years of Cosprop

The Fashion and Textile museum was founded, in 2003, by the designer Zandra Rhodes and is housed in a building designed by the architect Ricardo Legorreta.

Highlights of the Fashion and Textile Museum's Collection include highlights from the changing face of contemporary fashion, from 1947 to the present day. 

All of these items relate to the design and production of fashion, textiles and jewellery.

The collection includes garments from designers such as Balenciaga, Biba, Christian Dior, Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood. 

The Museum also provides information on and access to the Zandra Rhodes Collection, which is a resource that contains over4 0 years of work. This includes paper patterns, samples, textiles and ephemera. 

The aim of the Fashion and Textile Museum is to offer inspiration to the next generation of creatives, ensuring that the collections are accessible to students and outside researchers, both.

The exhibition is very well curated, with timed slots with limited places available. This allows for a more relaxed experience, where there is plenty of room to explore the various costumes on display.

The exhibition showcases costumes from films like The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and so many more.

Then there are the costumes from various television series, such as: Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989-2013), The House of Eliott (1991-1994), Downton Abbey (2010-present), Peaky Blinders (2013-2022), Gentleman Jack (2019-2022) and so many more.

So, if you are interested in costume design or simply love films and television, this is an exhibition that you won't want to miss.

You can book your visit via the website, which I have linked below.

Fashion and Textile Museum website

Since 2008 the museum has held countless exhibitions, that have included: 

• Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol 
• Hartnell to Amies: Couture By Royal Appointment
• Nautical Chic by Amber Jane Butchart
• Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London
• Riviera Style: Resort and Swimwear Style Since 1900

The current exhibition, 'Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop', has been running since September 2025 and closes on March 8, 2026.

Click the link below to see a gallery of images from the 'Costume Couture' exhibition.

Gallery

Below is a short video from the 'Costume Couture' exhibition.