Barbican exhibition Dirty Looks explores the "disruptive" potential of dirt

Woman looking at dirt-covered dresses hanging in gallery space

Barbican curator Karen Van Godtsenhoven and assistant curator Jon Astbury discuss the subversive role of dirt in fashion in this video produced by Dezeen to mark the opening of the London cultural centre's new exhibition.

Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion brings together 120 works by 60 different designers from around the world to explore how dirt has been used across fashion.

The exhibition features pieces by iconic designers, including Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Issey Miyake, alongside original commissions from emerging young designers.

"Fashion – being sort of obsessed with glamour and glossy surfaces – usually hides dirt under the surface," said Van Godtsenhoven in the video.

"Dirt is a way of bringing back an idea of realness, about disrupting a form of order and what we deem acceptable," added co-curator Astbury.

Three mannequins wearing shredded clothing on display — The exhibition explores the "dirty side" of the fashion industry

The exhibition traces how dirt has been embraced by designers from 1960s countercultural movements to contemporary sustainable fashion, highlighting its role in challenging established aesthetics.

The structure of the gallery space, created by spatial design Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, mirrors this narrative, reflecting a gradual decay as visitors move through the space.

The exhibition took inspiration from anthropologist Mary Douglas's seminal theory on dirt and pollution – defined in her 1966 book Purity and Danger – as a starting point for the exhibition.

"Douglas [described] dirt as 'matter out of place', so something that is entirely dependent on the context you put something in," Astbury said in the interview. "Dirt can be anything that disrupts an ordered system."

Person looking at mannequin on platform — Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren's 1983 Buffalo collection is featured in the exhibition

Opening the show is Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren's Buffalo collection from the Nostalgia of Mud (A/W 1983) runway show, which referenced a pre-industrial era tied to the land.

"Westwood and McLaren looked at more rustic ways of living, as a sort of an antidote to the excess and glamour of the 1980s," said Van Godtsenhoven.

Other key sections include Leaky Bodies, which features garments by Greek designer Di Petsa treated to resemble menstrual, lactation and urine stains.

"There are these incredible garments treated to look as though they have the stains, taking all of the most unacceptable marks on clothing and making those the core design feature," said Astbury.

Mannequins with stained items of clothing — Intentionally stained items from several designers are on display

Downstairs, the exhibition explores sustainability and the "dirty side" of the fashion industry through new commissions by young designers.

"We see this idea of dirt still being reprocessed and regenerated, but also the dirty side of the fashion industry, grappling with how designers can still create in a world where so many garments are being wasted," said Van Godtsenhoven.

The show concludes with works by Nigerian designer Bubu Ogisi, founder of fashion brand IAMISIGO, whose designs connect clothing back to land, culture and heritage.

"All of her pieces really stand as this embodiment of how what we wear can immediately connect us back to the land, or our history – things that are being lost or have historically been erased," said Astbury.

"These things that we often discard are things that currently designers are returning to in the story of dirt," he continued.

Mannequins on display with colourful costumes — Clothing that repurposes waste items like razors, broken cutlery and packaging can be found in the exhibition

"We hope that Dirty Looks makes people question what they are wearing, what they see in fashion, but also their own presumptions about beauty and dirt and how maybe dirt can be a liberator for us going forward," said Van Godtsenhoven.

Previously, the Barbican has hosted exhibitions exploring the s ubversive power of textiles and experiential sound design.

Photographs courtesy of David Parry and Barbican Art Gallery. Image credits: Dirty Looks, Installation views, Barbican Art Gallery, Thursday 25 Sep 2025 to Sunday 25 Jan 2026, David Parry / Barbican Art Gallery.

Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion is at the Barbican Centre until 25 Jan 2026. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for the Barbican Centre as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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