Barbican announces major fashion and art exhibitions for Autumn 2025
Autumn 2025 will bring two exciting exhibitions to the Barbican: ‘Dirty Looks’, a bold fashion exhibition exploring imperfection and decay, and an innovative art installation by Lucy Raven at The Curve.
Dirty Looks, IAMISIGO, handwoven raffia-cotton blend look dyed with coffee and mud spring/Summer 2024 Shadows. Photograph by Fred Odede, courtesy of IAMISIGO.
In autumn 2025, the Barbican will unveil two bold new exhibitions: Dirty Looks and Rounds by Lucy Raven. These exhibitions will showcase contemporary fashion and art, continuing the Barbican’s tradition of presenting bold, interdisciplinary works.
Dirty Looks will be London’s most daring fashion exhibition, featuring over 60 iconic and emerging designers. It will explore how contemporary fashion embraces imperfection and decay, challenging conventional beauty ideals. Through garments that highlight wear and tear, stains, and material transformation, the exhibition will celebrate fashion’s ability to redefine aesthetics. Designers such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Maison Margiela will be showcased alongside newly commissioned works by emerging artists.
Dirty Looks will run from 25 September 2025 to 25 January 2026 at the Barbican Art Gallery.
Lucy Raven: Rounds. © Lucy Raven. Photographer Ari Marcopoulos.
Alongside Dirty Looks, the Barbican will present Rounds, a major new exhibition by Lucy Raven, running from 9 October 2025 to 4 January 2026 at The Curve. This exhibition will debut Centrifuge, a monumental kinetic sculpture, alongside Raven’s moving-image installation Murderers Bar. Both works examine pressure, transformation, and cycles of violence that have shaped the Western United States. The installation focuses on the recent removal of a century-old dam on the Klamath River in Northern California, with the massive release of water serving as a powerful metaphor for force and change.
Dirty Looks marks the Barbican’s return to fashion programming after an eight-year hiatus, following acclaimed exhibitions such as The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier and The Vulgar.
Dirty Looks, Yuima Nakazato, Couture Spring Summer 2023 INHERIT. Photograph by Luca Tombolini, courtesy Yuima Nakazato
Rounds by The Lucy Raven will debut in London before travelling to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in 2026.
Dirty Looks at Barbican Art Gallery. 25 September 2025 – 25 January 2026.
Lucy Raven: Rounds at The Curve. 9 October 2025 – 4 January 2026.
