Matthew Williamson - 10 Years in Fashion

Matthew Williamson - 10 Years in Fashion

In celebration of Matthew Williamson’s ten years in fashion, Coutts was delighted to sponsor an exhibition of his work at the Design Museum in London until 31 January 2008. The exhibition then transferred to the Urbis in Manchester, running from 27 March to 21 September. 

Matthew Williamson is a unique success story within the British fashion industry. Setting out on his career as a fashion graduate with no financial backing in 1997, he now has his own store in the heart of Mayfair and his acclaimed collections are worn by international celebrity clients.

The exhibition, Matthew Williamson - 10 Years in Fashion, focused on the process and use of pattern, print and colour which have defined Williamson’s work and centralised around four main themes: colour and Psychedelia, Hyper-nature, Global extravaganza and Lifestyle. The exhibition featured iconic pieces from the past decade, including dresses made famous on the red carpet by Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Mischa Barton and Kylie Minogue. Showing at the exhibition was a specially commissioned film which offered a behind-the-scenes look at the energy and vision that goes into launching a new collection. Matthew’s sketchbooks were also on display, providing an insight into the way he has worked since his days as a fashion student, from an initial inspiration of a pattern, texture or colour, to the finished product worn on the catwalk.

As part of the Coutts sponsorship, Matthew Williamson specially commissioned a satellite exhibition of a number of his favourite designs for display at Coutts head office on the Strand in 2007. Each piece represented a particular technique or innovative application of colour or print. They were hand picked by Matthew for our head office Garden Court, fitting in with the tropical theme. To complement the satellite exhibition, Matthew also transformed the front windows with large colourful transfers of parrots, dragonflies, panthers and tigers - each animal coming from Matthew’s current or past collection.

The satellite exhibition and window display ran from 11 October until 30 November 2007 and launched Coutts sponsorship of Matthew’s 10 Years in Fashion exhibition at the Design Museum. Coutts was thrilled to sponsor this fantastic exhibition to celebrate Matthew’s ten years in fashion as part of its ongoing support of British designer talent.

Coutts has been a proud supporter of the arts throughout its 300 year history, not least by managing the financial affairs of many fashion designers, milliners and tailors through the ages. Today, Coutts is able to support the best of British designers in more creative ways, including hosting fashion shows for clients and commissioning them for design work – recent examples include the redesign of our Account Card and World Card.

An interview with Matthew Williamson featured in the September edition of Couttswoman.com .

For more information on Matthew Williamson, please click here.

For more details on the Design Museum, please click here.

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