The Dirty Looks exhibition at the Barbican  might be the most creatively energising fashion exhibition  I’ve seen in years. It’s rare to walk into a show and feel genuinely overstimulated by ideas — not because it’s confusing, but because it speaks directly to the things I’m drawn to as a stylist and art director: subversion, texture, deconstruction, decay, reconstruction, and the beauty of imperfection . This post isn’t a traditional Dirty Looks Barbican review  — it’s more

✨INSPO✨ The starting point was all about energy- that super punky, fetishy attitude from R&M Leathers, mixed with the glossy, playful Moschino. I loved the mix of tough and romantic: black vinyl, studs, exaggerated heart shapes. It’s everything I love about fashion when it’s unapologetic - a little theatrical, a little tongue-in-cheek, but built on real craft. MATERIALS The base came from a pair of vinyl trousers I found in the TK Maxx sale for £4. I didn’t even buy them with

…because someone had to make sense of it. Every season, fashion tries to tell us who we are. This one didn’t bother, it just showed us the mess. A tailored, shredded, padded, burnt, laced-up mess. But a good one. I went into this season with zero interest in “what’s trending.” Like every other season really. I just wanted to see what stuck, what made me stop scrolling. Turns out it wasn’t the polished stuff. It was the clothes that looked like they’d lived a little: belts doi