Curating Leigh Bowery, An Exhibition Review

The private view for Outlaws was redolent of a 1980s club night where everyone knew each other. This is an exhibition about a community, that has been actively supported by that community.

Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London is a totally thrilling show, capturing the essence of London’s 1980s fashion and club scenes. Scenes that, in an era predating social media, were inextricably entwined and mutually dependent. Both championed gender fluidity, sustainable fashion making, diversity and inclusivity long before these terms entered our vocabulary. It was a time when London had a centripetal pull for the many thousands of teenagers who experienced bigotry and felt they didn’t ‘fit’. Many were creatively talented, queer and, desperate to find ‘their people.’ This was the story of Leigh Bowery (1961 - 1994), the legendary Australian born designer and performance artist, around whom this exhibition orbits.

Outlaws was inspired by the tiny jewel of an exhibition Leigh Bowery: Tell them I’ve gone to Papua New Guinea, staged at London’s Fitzrovia Chapel (2022). The sub-title was the phrase Leigh asked those closest to him to use to explain his absence following his tragic death from AIDS, the disease that also stole the lives of so many others represented in this show.

Outlaws is a curatorial collaboration between fashion curator NJ Stevenson and Martin Green of Duo Vision who, along with his partner James Lawler who acted as creative consultant, exhibit the work of artists who have fallen out of fashion, or not yet received due recognition. Together, they collaborated with art director and mannequin collector David Cabaret, who was part of this social milieu.

‘We used Leigh as a central figure throughout the exhibition because in that scene the look was everything, and once he’d gained confidence by meeting some key people, nobody did that better than Leigh,' Stevenson tells me, 'I think the exhibition shows how London is made up of people from everywhere and this community were united by their energy and vision not by their backgrounds.’

The sequencing of Outlaws is superb. Initially the visitor encounters a recreation of the domestic space Leigh shared with his partner Trojan, complete with Star Trek wallpaper. It was from cramped flats like this and squats – not the corridors of privilege – that London’s fashion, club and style media cultures emerged like a phoenix.

Next, we journey to Kensington Market (49-53 Kensington High Street), with its myriad stalls occupied by designers selling the most edgy styles in London. Here we can ‘shop’ at recreated stalls occupied by designers who remain well known today, notably Pam Hogg and Body Map, and others who were equally famous in their day. Designers like Kahn and Bell (who made clothes for Duran Duran); Bernstock and Speirs, John Crancher (who opened Anarchy nightclub) and Ya Ya. Also, Rachel Auburn who met Leigh Bowery (whose 1985 nightclub became so infamous though it lasted barely a year) at Kensington Market, sold his designs and persuaded him to open his own stall.

This was the time when – with the upmost hubris - students, graduates and self-taught designers made clothes for themselves to wear clubbing and scratched a living selling similar garments, often made using whatever was at hand, on market stalls. A section upstairs called ‘Remake and Remodel’ highlights the resilience and ingenuity of this element of British fashion expression.

After ‘getting dressed’ for a night out, we are beckoned to the mirrored dance floor where figures representing Leigh Bowery, David Cabaret, Nicola Bowery, Trojan and Sue Tilley (Leigh’s great friend and author of his compelling 1997 biography) are – of course - costumed to the nines.

Evoking a club scene in a museum gallery, where all is static, is no small feat. Here, the fabulous crowded rabble of all mannequins, all striking different poses, really come into their own. They form part of Cabaret’s collection of Adel Rootstein retail figures that were sculpted based on the bodies of style leaders, famous and not. (Most mannequins are idealised or abstract.) Cabaret is a creative force who went all-out to find the right wigs, made by Peluca Studio and, where faces were not already painted, did so himself. The result is brilliant!

This was a brave gambit, that sees fashion curation come full circle. When I asked Stevenson about this intervention she said, ‘I knew that in fashion curatorial terms, we were sticking our necks out. Martin was inspired by Roxy Music’s Manifesto (1979) album cover, which portrays a mannequin night club scene. He saw the dance floor as an installation. I thought that it seemed right because it evoked the personal stories of the lenders and is also part of David’s story as a collector and David has his own place in the narrative of the exhibition as a club personality. It also echoes the narrative of hard-up designers reusing materials to make something extraordinary. I would have been much more worried about it if I hadn’t completely trusted David.’

The great beauty of working at the Fashion Textile Museum – and I know this from personal experience – is that Dennis Nothdruft who is Head of Exhibitions, will take a risk and, wherever possible, support the vision of his guest curators, scenography and art directors.

‘Outlaws presented the Fashion and Textile Museum an opportunity to celebrate a moment in British fashion when creativity and inventiveness were hallmarks of the young, independent designers working in London', Nothdruft says. 'The exhibition brought together the largest cohort of lenders we have worked with - over 80 - and many of those were the original owners who had kept these special pieces in lofts, closets and under the bed. The challenges of working with such a large group of lenders had its administrative challenges but the end-result is an exhibition with immediacy and authenticity.’

Upstairs, the storyline continues. Television, the stage and the new style magazines, notably The Face, i-D and Blitz (both launched in 1980) were vital showcases for young designers. ‘Popstars’ is populated by a figure representing Boy George wearing a graphic jacket by Sue Clowes; a bra top designed by Judy Blame for Neneh Cherry; a jacket worn by ABC’s Martin Fry designed by Elmaz Hüseyin and an outfit designed by Leigh Bowery worn by Lanah Pellay. There are also mannequins dressed as Pete Burns from Dead or Alive, ABC’s Martin Fry, Matt Goss from Bros, Kim Wilde and Corinne Drewery from Swing Out Sister. The latter loaned her own wig, cut for her in the 1980s by Vidal Sassoon for when she was on tour and didn’t have time to get her bob trimmed.

An exhibition like this must include music, animation and film. The soundtrack was put together by Martin Green, who is also a well-known DJ and there are pop videos and clips from Top of the Pops. Costumes for performance include designs by Leigh Bowery and Body Map for the radical dancer and choreographer Michael Clark. The fascinating television documentary South of Watford (part 1, 1986) features Leigh talking about his family, life in London and uncompromising personal style, providing visitors with rare film footage taken inside Taboo, a Bodymap fashion show and an interview with Michael Clark and Lanah P (previously Lana Pallay). It brings the exhibition narratives and protagonists to life; certainly, hearing their voices and seeing them move makes us feel as though we know them a little better.

Another section recreates the window at Browns, London’s most prestigious fashion shop. Showcased here are designs from John Galliano’s Les Incroyables 1984 St Martins degree show collection and, together with works by other major fashion forces Stephen Linard and John Flett. In short, it's a must-see.

The exhibition is curated by Martin Green, Duovision Arts, and NJ Stevenson. Artistic Director David Cabaret. Creative Consultant James Lawler, Duovision Arts. In collaboration with Dennis Nothdruft, Head of Exhibitions at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London is at the Fashion and Textile Museum from 4 October 2024 - 9 March 2025.