"Dirty Looks Desire and Decay in Fashion" opens at The Barbican Next Week. Tamara Cincik Interviewed Hussein Chalayan to find out more.
1. Hussein, I came to your debut show, The Tangent Flows, in 1993, when your mother did amazing catering and you buried the clothes. I was doing work experience at Vogue and came with legendary 90’s stylist Anna Cockburn, as Janet Fischgrund (an amazing PR) called me up to invite us. What are your memories of that show, and also that incredible time in London and our fashion scene? I can remember meeting someone from Frankie Goes to Hollywood waiting to go in, so even with your debut it was quite a seminal moment!
The debut show you mention was actually our first in London, outside the official fashion week calendar, in March 1994. I remember us arriving late in traffic, with the collection crammed into the car, heading to the Grosvenor Gallery on Grosvenor Street in Mayfair. Close friends helped with sewing and even modelling, and my family came to support also. It was an exciting time, driven entirely by creativity rather than any sense of missing out or wanting something we didn’t have. Conditions were tough, but the act of making and achieving something always prevailed.
2. My first advertising job was the TS Studio collection you designed for Topshop, which I styled the campaign for. What was your thinking on those high street collaborations? I know we felt we were democratising fashion at the time and I certainly had no idea about the impacts on the environment or workers? What for you were the positives and the negatives?
At the time, projects like the TS collaboration felt essential, and even today collaborations like this remain important. They make a real difference in what a brand can or cannot do with the additional income they bring. As you said, back then there wasn’t much awareness around environmental or labour issues-certainly not the way there is today. If I were to approach something like that now, it would be on a completely different level. For me, those collaborations were invaluable: they allowed me to reach new audiences at more accessible price points, and they also brought in resources that enabled me to stage shows that would otherwise have been impossible without extra income or sponsorship.
3. Let’s talk about the incredible show at Sadler’s Wells, where the chairs became clothes! I was in the audience and totally amazed. It felt very special. What were you trying to achieve and really I guess the question is, why?!?
That show was inspired by the intercommunal conflict between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, which began in the late 1950s. It explored the idea of leaving your home at the imminent threat of a raid- how you might hide or carry your possessions, how you might empty your space. There were chairs that transformed into suitcases, chair covers that became clothes, compartments built into garments to carry objects, and of course the table that turned into a skirt-so the very structures of a home could be carried away on the body.
Hussein Chalayan Show “After Words” AW 2000.
4. Like me, you have Turkish heritage and some of your shows have really delved into that. I am thinking in particular of one where the musicians were silhouettes and played folk music. It was very moving for me personally. What inspires you from Turkish history and culture and what insights do you gain from not living there now?
I believe anyone with a multicultural background is fortunate, as it naturally opens up different ways of thinking. Even speaking another language allows for a richer way of seeing the world. For those without that background, travel or cultivating curiosity in unfamiliar matters can lead to something similar. My Turkish Cypriot heritage-already shaped by Greek Cypriot, Turkish, and British influences because of colonial history-gives me that multicultural lens. And coming to the UK at a young age meant that this “island training” from Cyprus was expanded onto a much larger stage.
Dirty Looks will be showing some of your clothes from your collection The Tangent Flows, how do you feel this will be received by audiences and what do you think they will feel about the clothes that perhaps is different from what we felt in 1993?
We live in a digital age where our opinions are constantly shaped by outside influences. My hope is that the raw, almost primal quality of these buried pieces-from The Tangent Flows (my graduation collection in 1993) and the collections that followed, will allow audiences to form a direct, emotional connection with the work, without that interference.
I also love the work of Paolo Carzana, who is also showing at Dirty Looks. What do you think of the newer designers and their interrogations of fashion and the environment?
I find it interesting to be part of a show alongside designers like Paolo Carzana, who are creating exciting and beautiful work. It highlights how my generation and designers like Paolo can explore similar ideas in very different ways. After so many years in the industry, I’ve learned that talent is only one part of the story. Long-term fulfilment depends on sustaining yourself and keeping your skills alive, which at times requires significant compromises. My hope is that this new generation will grow their practices into lasting businesses while still finding genuine satisfaction in what they do.