The 1990s saw the movement of fashion into hitherto unlikely venues. Museums and galleries with their own specialist focus such as the Imperial War Museum and the fine art-based Hayward Gallery in London, held major exhibitions of dress for the first time. This period also saw the consolidation of the ‘new’ fashion history and the ‘new’ museology, both of which have had far-reaching implications for the study, interpretation and display of fashion. In broad terms these changes have involved a greater emphasis on analysing the meanings invoked by cultural objects and practices and a questioning of traditional approaches and methodologies. Published research which comments on the overlap between these disciplinary shifts has been minimal despite the vibrant activity around fashion in museums and galleries and a flood of academic publications involving both of the above-mentioned disciplines. In this chapter I wish to extend debate in that area, which I hope will encourage further publication. The chapter will look at three case studies of museums and galleries in London, namely, the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Judith Clark Costume Gallery; and the Hussein Chalayan Echo Form Exhibition held at the Atlantis Gallery in 1999. These have been selected in order to compare and contrast the approaches taken by a leading national museum, a small independent gallery and a designer who co-curated an exhibition of his own work. This choice has allowed the examination of approaches developed from traditional museological practice and also that of more experimental approaches firmly located outside of traditional curatorial contexts, but similarly located within the contemporary fashion system. These issues are explored through interviews with curators and with reference to museology, dress history, cultural studies, sociology and material culture texts.

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