The Wick List

Viewing Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion at Barbican

The Wick Culture - Paolo Carzana, Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery

Above Paolo Carzana, Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery

The Wick Culture - Hussein Chalayan, Autumn Winter 1994 Cartesia. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Hussein Chalayan, Autumn Winter 1994 Cartesia. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

The Wick Culture - Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery.

Above Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery.

The Wick Culture - Piero D’Angelo, Physarum Lab. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Piero D’Angelo, Physarum Lab. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

The Wick Culture - Hussein Chalayan, The Tangent Flows, 1993. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Hussein Chalayan, The Tangent Flows, 1993. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Paolo Carzana, Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery

Above Hussein Chalayan, Autumn Winter 1994 Cartesia. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Dirty Looks, Installation view, Barbican Art Gallery. © David Parry Barbican Art Gallery.

Above Piero D’Angelo, Physarum Lab. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Above Hussein Chalayan, The Tangent Flows, 1993. Photograph by Ellen Sampson

Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion

Barbican Centre
25 Sep 2025 — 25 Jan, 2026

The Barbican’s show of the season is Dirty Looks, newly opened at the centre’s art gallery, an exploration of rebellion against conventional beauty ideals celebrating the “dirty side” of fashion in ruined frocks and stained jeans.

Dirty Looks is underpinned by an ecological connection – the introduction of dirt, debris and decay into clothing styles over the eras not only defies conventions but, as it is reborn in the work of young designers, proffers a new way of thinking about sustainability in fashion now and in the near future.

Works by the likes of Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Miguel Adrover and Maison Margiela, appear alongside emerging designers such as Elena Velez, Yuima Nakazato and IAMISIGO.