POP! An exhibition about pop

This week sees the opening of POP! At London’s Fashion and Textiles Museum – a celebration of all things pop and design from 1956-1976.

Exhibition

Source: Michael Cockerham

Exhibition

The exhibition, which is accompanied by this beautiful book, charts graphic design, record sleeves, fashion and homeware, as well as art and advertising – anything as long as its pop.

Exhibition

Source: Michael Cockerham

Exhibition

‘Pop was probably the most significant cultural phenomenon in the second half of the 20th century’, say exhibition guest curators Geoffrey Rayner and Richard Chamberlain. ‘Pop was a broad-based grass-roots culture whose young exponents constantly blurred the boundaries of its primary vehicles of expression and communication, music, fashion and design, in a fluidity  of artistic interests in the widest sense.’

Exhibition

Source: Michael Cockerham

Exhibition

And the show is certainly broad – tracing the first seeds of the ‘pop’ aesthetic planted in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with a growing trend for appropriating Victorian and Edwardian advertising styles (such as in the posters for the Black Eyes & Lemonade show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1951); to Vivienne Westwood’s celebrated 1970s bondage-inspired punk fashion designs.

Punk fashion

Source: Michael Cockerham

Punk fashion

Among the many highlights of the show is the Underground Posters and Graphic Design 1966- 1973 section. Reflecting the burgeoning 1960s taste for protest, posters became the medium through which to state your views and persuade others to adopt them – as well, of course, to promote clubs, bands and exhibitions.

Exhibition

Source: Michael Cockerham

Exhibition

Rose Design created the graphics for the exhibition, which use the ‘o’ of Pop as a lock-up window for a series of different images relating the contents of the show.

Pop! Lock-up
Pop! Lock-up

Rupert Gowar-Cliffe, designer at Rose Design, says, ‘We felt it was important to communicate the range and diversity of the materials in the show. We created the lock-up so it would house any number of circular motifs, so we put together eight of these lock-ups.’

Button badges
Button badges

The exhibition guide takes the form of a newspaper-like publication, referencing the ‘underground counterculture magazines that were prevalent at the time’, according to Gowar-Cliffe.

Newspaper
Newspaper exhibition guide

He adds, ‘The materials in the show you’re working with are so exciting – it as nice to have the opportunity to delve a bit deeper. The screen-printed posters were fascinating for us to look through with the incredible colours and designs.’

POP! Design Culture Fashion runs from 6 July – 27 October at the Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, 
London
 SE1

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  • Rose November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Who was the designer of the first outfit

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