Silhouettes: Fashion in the shadow of HIV/AIDS

Silhouettes: Fashion in the Shadow of HIV/AIDS explores the lives and works of some of fashion’s brightest stars from the late 20th century. Featured in this ground-breaking exhibition are works by designers, artists and activists who have passed of AIDS-related illness to raise awareness of their contribution to fashion during a pivotal moment in history.

Over 100 pieces of fashion, art and ephemera – sourced from esteemed private and public collections from the UK, USA and Australia – tell a story of changing hemlines, changing worlds and changing attitudes. Showcasing household names like Halston and Moschino, Silhouettes also features work from revolutionary black designers Patrick Kelly, Fabrice Simon and Willi Smith, and forgotten talents like Clovis Ruffin and Chester Weinberg.

HIV/AIDS in fashion became an important activism tool to force social and political advancement, and in many cases intersected couture designers and activist artists as they collaborated to affect change through fashion, design, and art. Australians Peter Tully, David McDiarmid and Brenton Heath-Kerr brought this struggle to our streets with passion and panache.

The fashion designers, artists, and activists selected for Silhouettes exercised an outsized influence on fashion and almost all are unduly overlooked in recent years. Silhouettes: Fashion in the Shadow of HIV/AIDS is a powerful reminder of an entire generation of international designers lost to the virus but deserving of contemporary recognition.

Curated by Skye Bartlett

Team Manager, SAMES

29 January to 18 June 2022
Tuesday to Saturday 10AM – 4PM
No booking required.

Children under 12 free.

Main Image: Couture by Halston, Patrick Kelly, Chester Weinberg, Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, Fabrice Simon

Images L-R: (detail) Rossella Jardini for Moschino (Italy established 1952), Red ribbon blazer, 1995. On loan from a private collection, Paris, France.

Chester Weinberg (USA 1930–1985), Cocktail dress Spring/Summer, 1968. On loan from a private collection, Adelaide; Chester Weinberg (USA 1930-1985), Evening Dress, 1968. On loan from a private collection, Adelaide Australia

(detail) Roy Halston Frowick (USA 1932–1990), Fireworks Evening Dress, 1981. On loan from Morphew Vintage, New York USA