Earlier this summer, I found myself on the West coast of Canada. I was staying at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which is right in the heart of the city, and from my window had a beautiful view of the Vancouver Art Gallery. That’s when I noticed a massive poster that adorned the building, featuring their latest exhibition, called Fashion Fictions. After learning more about it online, I just knew I had to go – and I would strongly recommend that if you get a chance to as well, you really don’t want to miss this opportunity!

This exceptional show is presented by Holt Renfrew and features more than 50 of the top fashion and luxury designers of all-time. Approached in a very thoughtful curatorial manner, it explores the influence of research-based, materially driven practices on the global fashion scene, while acknowledging the proliferation of creative practices that challenge the aesthetic, material and technological conventions of fashion.

As you explore the exceptional clothing, accessories, videos and other interactive multimedia on display, you will notice that the exhibition is divided into three thematic sections. The first, called Material Futures, focuses on the relationship between technological and scientific innovations in material research to create fabrics. The second section is Aesthetic Prophesies, which features the fusion of cultural traditions with speculative creations and designers that push the boundaries of wearability with extreme fashion. Equally important and extremely relevant is the third thematic section, called Responsible Visions, which centres around the importance of sustainable discourse in fashion culture, with designers incorporating adaptive reuse, upcycling and digital design into their explorations.

There are many pieces on display that are from different eras and feature both renowned and emerging designers. I was particularly thrilled to see the work of Iris van Herpen, who I exclusively interviewed five years ago for FAJO, when she had an exhibition in Toronto. Equally exciting was to see the work of my other personal favourites: Balmain, Comme des Garçons, Maison Margiela, Issey Miyake, Moncler and Off-White. However, one of the biggest highlights of all was experiencing up-close the work of Lee Alexander McQueen, from his spring/summer 2009 collection, called Natural Dis-Tinction, Un-Natural Selection.

The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Rebick, Director of Publishing and Content Strategy; with contributing curators Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, Independent Curator and Indigenous Fashion Show Director, SWAIA; Siobhan McCracken Nixon, Assistant Curator; and curatorial advisor New Order of Fashion. The exhibition design is by Measured Architecture.

I met and interviewed Rebick during my tour and we discussed the exhibition extensively. She said that she first started working on the idea of an international fashion exhibition in 2017 and had been refining it ever since, until this Fashion Fictions’ launch in May. Her research started with an extensive examination of Japanese fashion from the 1970s until present day.

“Eventually, I became really interested in the concept of collaboration and how it’s the defining gesture of the 21^st century fashion culture,” says Rebick. “I also became very interested in the reviews of the designers. For example, Iris van Herpen was someone who was really important to me, due to her interdisciplinary and very conceptual approach. I would argue that her work is more akin to an artistic practice than what you will find in a very commercial fashion system. It’s the way in which she collaborates with experts in scientific, architecture, design and contemporary art fields, and brings them into making incredible creations. I used that as a starting point to investigate deeper into other designers and artists who are working in this way. And, I became really interested in the intersection of fashion with other aspects of creative production.”

Rebick added that Junya Watanabe’s work was also very informative to the direction she took. “The [spring] 2015 collection was fascinating. A complete mash-up of retro futurism, it was talking about looking back to look forward, and how drawing on references of past futures and putting them in a very changed contemporary context, also changes how we examine all these items and what they mean.”

In addition to featuring international designers, Contributing Curator, Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, selected work by several Indigenous designers and artists addressing social and environmental issues through designs. “I am thrilled for Indigenous fashion to be integrated into the larger conversation of global fashion with this exhibition,” she said. “The Indigenous designers curated into the show represent such a tiny fraction of the extraordinary work being fashioned by Indigenous designers across Native North America. Many more fashion stories of the original designers of this land need to be shared.”

Rebick says the most difficult part of putting together the exhibition was working with designers from all other the world, especially since fashion houses and brands typically operate with 6-month timelines or shorter, whereas museums tend to focus on multi-year planning schedules. On the other hand, the most exciting part was making studio visits and having a lot of direct dialogue with many of the designers.

Ultimately, Rebick notes, “the intent of the show is not to provide an answer to what the future holds but to show a number of possible trajectories.”

Fashion Fictions runs until October 9, 2023.