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.

Walking with family and friends: London Bridge to Bermondsey... and beyond

New prisoners in an old gaol.

Saturday January 31, 2026:

Cloudy with sunny spells, winds at 4 mph, 10°C (50°F)

Erin is really into art, often designing dresses and fashion items.

So, I decided that we should visit the Fashion and Textile Museum, where an exhibition celebrating sixty years of Cosprop was being held.

''Cornerstone' by Austin Emery.

Erin invited our friend, Steve, and, after meeting at Watford underground station, we set off. We changed trains at Finchley Road and took a Jubilee line train to London Bridge. The museum was just a few minutes walk from the station, so we stopped at Chapter 72 for some drinks, before exploring this part of Bermondsey. 

Just before 11:00 we joined the queue for the museum and waited to go in. A sign had been affixed to the door, stating that the next two visiting times were fully booked, requiring some in the queue to book timed slots for later in the day. We, fortunately, had pre-booked our tickets.

On entering the museum we were each handed a booklet containing almost 50 pages of detailed information on each of the items on display, how Cosprop was formed and a brief history.

1820s wedding dress for Miss Havisham from Great Expectations (1967).

The first item of clothing, on display, was Miss Havisham's dress from Great Expectations (1967), followed by uniforms from The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and War and Peace (1972).