LEWES.- This autumn, Charleston brings two major exhibitions to central Lewes for the first time, as it takes its first steps towards a permanent cultural centre in the heart of the town that will complement its rural home at Firle.

Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion is the first major exhibition to explore the fashion of the Bloomsbury group, and how the 20th century cultural collective still impacts global style over 100 years on. Curated by writer Charlie Porter, the exhibition spotlights the relationship that radical figures such as Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell had with clothing, while celebrating 21st century fashion designers who have found inspiration in Bloomsbury art and life.

Highlights include:

• Catwalk fashion by Dior, Fendi, Burberry, Comme des Garçons, Erdem and S.S. Daley

• Personal items exhibited for the first time, such as: necklaces worn by sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell; Virginia Woolf’s bag, hand-embroidered by Bell; pieces worn by Lady Ottoline Morrell

• Never-before-seen portraits by Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant

• New commission by Jawara Alleyne

The Bloomsbury group was a loose collective of artists, writers and thinkers, first formed in London at the beginning of the 20th century. Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion uses original garments, archival objects, paintings, photography, manuscripts and spoken word to examine how the Bloomsbury group explored a liberated sexuality, feminism, queerness and pacifism, helping to set the foundations for how we dress today.

Developed from extensive research, the exhibition in Charleston’s large new gallery space focuses on six protagonists: Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes and Lady Ottoline Morrell. The title comes from a letter by Virginia Woolf to T.S. Eliot in 1920, inviting him to stay: “Please bring no clothes: we live in a state of utmost simplicity”. Such words were often used by Woolf and Bell, signifying their break from traditional society.

The exhibition will present many previously unseen items, including necklaces worn by Woolf and Bell in an iconic 1896 photograph with their sister Stella Duckworth; looks from the wardrobe of Bloomsbury patron Lady Ottoline Morrell; a bag, hand-embroidered by Vanessa Bell, which belonged to Virginia Woolf; a first edition of Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando, inscribed to her then lover Vita Sackville-West; and the manuscript for a pioneering essay from 1888 by the painter and critic Roger Fry titled, ‘Shall we wear top hats?’.

Fashion from contemporary designers, including designs by Kim Jones from his Fendi Spring-Summer 2021 Women’s show inspired by Virginia Woolf, and from his Dior Spring-Summer 2023 Men’s collection inspired by Duncan Grant, will be woven through the exhibition. The legacy of the group will be explored in designs by Erdem, Christopher Bailey for Burberry, and Comme des Garçons pieces on the theme of Woolf’s Orlando, designed by Rei Kawakubo for the catwalk and the Vienna Opera House. Meanwhile, Charleston itself will be seen as a fashion source, with a series of photographs by Tim Walker for Italian Vogue, shot in and around the house.

The exhibition will also highlight a new generation of designers, such as LVMH Prize winner S.S. Daley, who takes inspiration from the characters created by E.M. Forster; Jawara Alleyne, who will install a new work modelled on Vanessa Bell’s use of safety pins in her dressing; and Ella Boucht, who uses tailoring to reimagine gender. There will also be a focus on the role of fashion in Bloomsbury portraiture, particularly mid-20th century works by Bell and Grant, many previously unseen, and an examination of the queer coding of clothes in Grant’s portraits.

A new book by Charlie Porter, Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion, written during the research period of the exhibition, will be published by Particular Books, an imprint of Penguin, on 7 September 2023, coinciding with the opening of the show.

Charlie Porter says: “The Bloomsbury group engaged with fashion in dynamic ways, from philosophical thinking to radical dressing. Bring No Clothes uses garments to shed new light on their lives, as well as bring insight into how we dress today. By mixing together the past with the present, I hope the show will encourage visitors to reconsider their future relationship with fashion.”

Charleston's second exhibition in Lewes, Jonathan Baldock: through the joy of the senses, will be the first UK survey show of leading contemporary artist Jonathan Baldock, coinciding with his exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Baldock works with a variety of materials such as fabric, paint and ceramics to create large-scale sculptural installations that often explore our relationship to the body and the space it inhabits. The show will bring together a range of these installation pieces in a colourful, rich and immersive exhibition.

Jonathan Baldock says: “Growing up between Kent and East Sussex, I’ve always felt as if Charleston and the Bloomsbury group are part of my DNA. I’ve visited Lewes and Charleston so many times, as a child and through to adulthood, and could even see Sissinghurst Castle, the home of Vita Sackville-West, from my bedroom window. So, the opportunity to show my work in connection with a place that has influenced me feels incredibly magical.”

Nathaniel Hepburn, Director at Charleston, says: “It is exciting to launch Charleston’s new building in central Lewes with two very different exhibitions. In Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion, Charlie Porter takes a fresh angle that is bringing us new stories on the extraordinary lives of the Bloomsbury group members, showing again the continued relevance of their ideas to contemporary culture. Jonathan Baldock’s bold installation brings his colourful, sensory world to our spaces, and is indicative of the scale of contemporary exhibition the new building will enable for Charleston.”

A free programme of community projects will also take place in Charleston’s new spaces, alongside a pop-up café and shop.

This season of exhibitions forms part of a cultural season in Sussex accompanying the Turner Prize in Eastbourne.

Charleston
Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion
September 13th, 2023 - January 7th, 2023