Barbour to take over Saatchi Gallery with tartan exhibition for London Fashion Week
Barbour is to take over the Saatchi Gallery during London Fashion Week with an immersive new exhibition celebrating the brand’s tartan heritage.
Running from 17 to 19 September, the Tartan Reimagined: The Barbour Way exhibition follows on from Barbour’s AW25 celebration of its original and authentic Barbour tartans.
Subscribe to TRBIt is inspired by the journey of founder John Barbour, who travelled from Kirkcudbrightshire in south-west Scotland to South Shields, where he opened the first Barbour store in South Shields Marketplace in 1894. The company is now a fifth generation business led by chair Dame Margaret Barbour.
The Saatchi Gallery takeover builds on the success of Barbour’s autumn/winter campaign last year, when it first brought its tartan heritage to London Fashion Week. This year’s exhibition will expand that story into a series of immersive galleries, guiding visitors through Barbour’s history.
Beginning with the origins of the brand and its tartan, it will then move on to the craftsmanship behind the new AW26 collection, and will culminate in a look toward the future of the brand.
That final section will showcase the winning designs from Barbour’s Tartan Reimagined competition, run in partnership with the British Fashion Council. The competition invited students to reinterpret tartan in their own style, while staying true to the original Barbour sett.
The exhibition will also feature a showcase of pieces from Barbour’s Re-Loved initiative, including collaborations with Gucci, Erdem, Paul Smith, and Glastonbury x Oxfam, alongside garments produced at the brand’s South Shields factory.
