C41: Simon Thorogood
Spring / Summer 1999 couture
Judith Clark Costume Gallery
20 September - 1 December 1998

Simon Thorogood's second couture collection C4i was exhibited at the gallery from 20 September - 1 December 1998, consisting of four gowns for Spring/Summer 1999. Thorogood collaborated with the curator Judith Clark to construct a set of wooden mannequins, each unique to the garment it displayed. These quasi-monolithic structures gave the gowns great presence, and the low lighting emphasised their otherworldly beauty.

On the walls, coloured wooden shapes were taken straight from pages of Thorogood's inspirational sketchbooks and brought further dialogue into the space. These echoed the colours that detail the gowns - warmer tones than in the previous collection - pale gold, electric blue and perfect chlorophyll green. Within the installation a landscape was created, and from it the steely-eyed model in Tim Bret-Day's dazzling eight foot photograph stared out into the street. The futuristic soundscape was specially composed for Simon Thorogood's exhibition by Joseph Gerhardt and Ruth Jarman, and its effect was mesmerising.

"My inspiration comes mainly from the area of stealth aircraft technology, particularly the new breed of pilotless drones. That's really the main essence of the work: the lines, features or details of these very seamless, very minimal aircraft. The reason I gravitated towards these things was because, having an eclectic approach to design, it was important to me not to make any conscious reference to previous fashion. Hence, for a while I have been looking elsewhere for visual stimuli and inspiration, and this collection is the culmination of a lot of work in that area."

Simon Thorogood interviewed by Valeria Lugaro for Spectrum Radio

On November 25, the gallery presented its first seminar evening with an informal talk between Simon Thorogood and Cultural Historian and Central/St.Martin's lecturer Caroline Evans.