Cam Lates presents Fashion at the Fitzwilliam, a collaboration between the museum and fashion-brand Oasis
A fascinating insight into a collaboration between Fitzwilliam Museum and high-street fashion brand Oasis comes to the museum on 18 April, courtesy of Cam Lates.
Fashion at the Fitzwilliam, from 6.30 to 9pm, features talks, activities and discussion, ranging from what inspired a new Oasis collection, to the latest trends in fashion.
One of the first items ever purchased by the museum, in 1828, was John James Audubon’s Birds of America. It’s often thought of as the finest ornithological work ever published, featuring 435 engraved and aquatinted hand-coloured plates, which depict 495 species, 25 of which Audubon discovered.
This, combined with one of the most outstanding collections of flower paintings, botanical drawings and floral miniatures, inspired Oasis’ in-house design team to reimagine them, to create an occasion wear and accessories collection that’s on sale until early June.
Kate Carreno, assistant director at the museum, said: “Through these clothes and accessories we hope to expose our little-known treasures to a wider audience, to inspire and create an appreciation of just how informative and beautiful these historic books and prints are.”
This image: a plate from John James Audubon’s Birds of America
Local design experts at Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts (CSVPA), together with Oasis and the museum, will provide a fab evening on the 18th. It includes Fashion in Motion, in which Lucy Penny, an Oasis designer, explains how the new collection was developed, and Hettie Ward, assistant keeper of paintings and drawings, will talk about the watercolours that inspired the range.
Award-winning fashion designer Holly Fulton, head of fashion at CSVPA, will talk about her own work – which includes eponymous label shows at London Fashion Week – and answer questions about how to make it as a fashion designer. In addition to that, you can meet current students from the school, and see examples of their work.
A drop-in fashion illustration and collage workshop will give you tips on how to illustrate using collage techniques, and even produce experimental fashion designs.
There will be fashion presentations of the Oasis collection in the galleries throughout the evening.
A selection of the museum’s botanical treats will feature in Floral Fantasies, an exhibition from 5 June to 9 September.
Tickets to Fashion at the Fitzwilliam on 18 April are £8 and can be bought here.
