Six design and style exhibitions to see in London this summer | Canada Voices

There’s no shortage of culture to take in this season in London.

The annual Serpentine Pavilion showcase, which highlights emerging architectural talent, opens on June 6 in Kensington Garden. For this year’s showcase, Mexico City-based LANZA Atelier unveils a curving brick wall – a riff on the English architectural feature known as a serpentine, or crinkle-crankle, wall (as well as the nearby Serpentine Lake).

After checking out the experimental structure, visit these six must-see exhibitions around the British city.

Tokyo rising

Few can claim the lasting impact that the mononymous Nigo has had on style culture.

The influential Japanese designer, record producer and DJ, who serves as artistic director of Kenzo, was a vanguard of the 1990s streetwear and luxury fashion scene. NIGO: From Japan With Love (Design Museum, to Oct. 4) is the first major retrospective of the visionary figure abroad.

A recreation of his teenage bedroom in Japan’s Gunma prefecture distills Nigo’s early interest in vintage AV equipment and ametora (the assimilation of the Ivy League look by Japanese youth), as well as prized thrift store finds (such as a McDonald’s aloha shirt), retro toys and manga.

The nearly 700 objects – most from Nigo’s personal archive – include mixtapes, photos, sketches and rare T-shirt editions that trace the designer’s fascination with heritage, Americana and irreverent branding. There are pieces from collaborations with university friend and fellow fashion designer Jun Takahashi (Nowhere), along with Pharrell Williams (Billionaire Boys Club, Human Made), KAWS, Levi’s, Nike and Virgil Abloh. It’s like stepping inside Nigo’s creative mind, which, judging by the full-sized glass tea house in the final gallery, is currently focused on traditional Japanese craft.

Prints charming

Presented in partnership with Liberty Fabrics for its 150th anniversary, Women in Print (William Morris Gallery, to June 21) surveys 150 years of women in textile design.

Featured artists include Lucienne Day, Sonia Delaunay and Trinidad-born British designer Althea McNish (one of the first Afro-Caribbean designers to achieve international acclaim), as well as lesser-known names such as Jacqueline Groag, whose midcentury clients ranged from British Rail to Chanel, House of Worth and Lanvin. Previously overlooked pioneering 19th-century designers such as Kate Faulkner and May Morris also get their due. Morris, younger daughter of William Morris, helped shape the Arts and Crafts aesthetic and formed the Women’s Guild of Arts in 1907.

Reign of attire

Having broken attendance records and sold out its initial run, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style (The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace) has been extended until April, 2027.

Displaying more than 300 items from the closet of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, it’s more a biographical survey through clothes rather than what you might call a “fashion” exhibition. The curation underscores how tasteful dressing and soft diplomacy took priority over setting trends, moving from the fit-and-flare frocks of the Queen’s youth through her rainbow of day dresses and embellished formal gowns. Handwritten notations on swatches and sketches show how she was personally involved in all wardrobe preparation.

Both the Queen’s christening gown and wedding dress are on display, but the showstopper is Her Majesty’s heavily encrusted 1953 Coronation gown. There’s plentiful CanCon, too: the diamond and platinum Asprey & Co. maple leaf brooch that King George VI gave Princess Elizabeth in 1939, worn on her first visit to Canada in 1951, and the appliqué poodle skirt donned for a night of carefree square dancing in Ottawa during the same Royal Tour.

If not visiting London, take heart: The Royal Collection Trust has created a splendid virtual tour.

The surreal life

The interplay between Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli and the Surrealist artists in her social circle is the focus of Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art (Victoria & Albert South Kensington, to Nov. 8).

The conceptual daring and unusual proportions of her couture, started in 1927, runs through the experimental wit of her 1930s “shoe hat” and unsettling Skeleton dress. Innovative packaging (such as object-shaped perfume bottles) convey the provocateur’s sense of humour.

It’s a treat to see the whimsical buttons, exquisitely cut dresses and embroidered jackets with anatomical details and exposed zippers up close. Pieces such as the designer’s infamous Lobster dress, worn by American socialite Wallis Simpson, still feel radical today.

Sibling revelry

Textile artists Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell began working together in the 1960s. Assembled from a 30,000-piece archive of notes, sketches and samples, Paint! Pattern! Print! The Textiles of Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell (Fashion + Textile Museum, to Sept. 13) explores the sisters’ creative partnership across more than five decades.

After establishing their studio, Collier Campbell, in the 1970s, the duo found fame with commissions for Liberty, Jaeger and Habitat, as well as collaborations with designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Muir and Bill Gibb. In abstract geometric patterns and botanical motifs, their prolific output across textiles, interiors and homeware is defined by its hand-painted quality. The radiant skies and cheerful balconies of their Côte d’Azur print (dubbed ‘Matisse for the masses’) is their best known, and features in the exhibition as an entire room set.

Eastern promises

After last year’s unveiling of the Storehouse, the Victoria & Albert’s open archive storage depot, the museum expands its footprint in the East Bank cultural quarter.

Experiencing the chunky, angular structure of the new V&A East Museum (by Irish firm O’Donnell + Tuomey) would be reason enough to commute. But the permanent Why We Make galleries are a big draw, with objects from the V&A’s collection organized not by geography or materials but by ideas, grouped together in thematic conversations around topics such as well-being and identity.

Modernist Eileen Gray’s “S” bend chair is featured, as is the sequined ballet costumes by performance artist Leigh Bowery that have inspired many a Drag Race challenge. Take in the panoramic third floor terrace views before visiting the engrossing inaugural special exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story (to Jan. 3). The social, historical and cultural context of Black music in Britain is explored in paintings, prints, playbills, posters, sculpture and clothing.

Stormzy’s 2019 Glastonbury stab-proof Union Jack vest, designed by Banksy, shares space with pieces worn by DJ Paulette, Shirley Bassey and Sade, Joan Armatrading’s acoustic guitar and Grooverider’s first turntable.