Top Designers In Icons Of British Fashion Exhibition At Blenheim Palace

Home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Set in over 2,000 acres of Lancelot “Capability” Brown landscaped parkland and designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, who also designed Castle Howard, Yorkshire, this imposing palace is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The Baroque style palace is a fittingly grand location for an exhibition celebrating figures from fashion, one of the UK’s most successful industries. The just opened Icons of British Fashion features a line-up of world-class designers and labels, with each fashion house taking over a significant room.

Blenheim Palace’s Largest Exhibition

Blenheim Palace has collaborated with some of Britain’s most well-known fashion designers and brands to create Icons of British Fashion, the largest exhibition in its 300-year history, open to the public until 30 June 2024, sponsored by nearby British luxury retail destination: Bicester Village. All the big names are here: Vivienne Westwood, Jean Muir, Terry de Havilland, Bruce Oldfield, Turnbull & Asser, Zandra Rhodes, Lulu Guinness, Barbour, Alice Temperley, Stella McCartney and Stephen Jones Millinery for Christian Dior.

Visitors enter the fashion exhibition on a red carpet into the grand hall featuring designs by the late, great Dame Vivienne Westwood. The selection of designs show Westwood’s avant-garde, rebellious punk influences, historical references and bold silhouettes. Tracing the long-term collaboration of Vivienne with her creative partner and husband Andreas Kronthaler, on show are gowns, corsets and capes handcrafted in their London atelier. Westwood’s daring and unconventional designs are the ideal introduction to a show on British fashion.

Against the backdrop of Blenheim Palace’s own priceless collections of paintings, tapestries and objects, each room pays homage to a British fashion icon and features a display of renowned classic pieces, as well as never-before-seen looks – including unique items crafted exclusively by Lulu Guinness for Blenheim Palace. The Barbour room naturally displays their much loved, wax jackets. In the chandeliered Green Drawing Room, Bruce Oldfield wanted to capture the mood of the celebrated 1948 photograph by Cecil Beaton of a group of society women wearing the elegant gowns of Couture dress designer Charles James in a similarly grand room. Alice Temperley has created an otherworldly, dreamlike party scene in a room surrounded by tapestries.

A fashion exhibition at Blenheim makes perfect sense according to Dominic Hare, Chief Executive of Blenheim Palace who says “Blenheim Palace has played a significant role in the UK’s fashion industry: it has hosted fashion shows; photoshoots; and many designers have been guests of the family over the years. Christian Dior hosted two shows here in 1954 and 1958 in aid of the Red Cross, and then returned in 2016 for their Cruise Collection. Cecil Beaton has also done shoots with the family, and we have been the location of many brand campaigns over the years. We have a rich fashion history and this exhibition should help cement our legacy in this fascinating industry.”

The palace has also worked closely with some of the designers to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of its own fashion icon, Sir Winston Churchill. The exhibition includes one of the original Churchill Siren Suits on loan from Turnbull & Asser, as well as a new take on the iconic boiler suit and a specially designed smoking cap by British milliner Stephen Jones. On closer inspection, you can see Winston Churchill’s hand-embroidered initials as well as a clementine – in honour of his wife – within the lining. Stephen Jones also celebrates the relationship with Christian Dior and Blenheim Palace initiated in 1954, and showcases three complete outfits from the creative directors with whom he has collaborated since 1996.

The stunning Long Library at Blenheim Palace is the final room of the exhibition, featuring a catwalk display of Stella McCartney’s designs since her launch in 2001. A trailblazer in ethical fashion design, as a lifelong vegetarian, Stella has never used leather, feathers, skin or fur in any of her designs.

Art at Blenheim Palace

Although this is the first fashion exhibition, Blenheim Palace has been hosting annual art exhibitions through its Blenheim Art Foundation since 2014, launching with Ai Weiwei, followed by Lawrence Weiner in 2015, Michelangelo Pistoletto in 2016, Jenny Holzer in 2017, Yves Klein in 2018, Maurizio Cattelan in 2019, Cecily Brown in 2020, and Tino Sehgal in 2021. This year’s exhibition will be Mohammed Sami. Contemporary exhibitions like these and Icons of British Fashion make a fascinating contrast to the permanent art collection that includes glorious paintings like Margaret Lemon as Erminia by Anthony van Dyck and The 4^th Duke and Family by Sir Joshua Reynolds, both in the Red Drawing Room of the State Rooms.

Practicalities

Icons of British Fashion continues through Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1UL until 30 June 2024. Tickets including park and are £38 and £22 for children. A family ticket (2 adults/2 children) £99. Free to annual pass holders.

The Icons of Fashion tea (£60 with a glass of pink bubbly) includes lobster and wild mushroom canapes as well as classics like Coronation Chicken and Bhaji Sandwich, scones and clotted cream, Battenburg cake and Milk Chocolate High Heels from Charbonnel et Walker.

Blenheim Palace is a twenty-minute journey from the city of Oxford and within easy reach of central London and Birmingham. Both cities are around one and a half hours away by car. Free car parking is available on-site. A 20% discount applies to visitors who travel to the palace by bus.