Black Joy Day: Althea McNish - Designing for Schiaparelli and Other Luminaries

Led by Assistant Curator Danilo Marques dos Reis, the opening session situates Elsa Schiaparelli’s work within the charged interwar years, where bold experimentation in fashion became a powerful response to social and political upheaval. You will be introduced to key objects, artistic collaborations, and the radical thinking that transformed garments into statements of imagination, disruption, and modern identity.

Danilo expands this lens by drawing connections to the Harlem Renaissance, foregrounding a parallel world of Black creativity, intellect, and elite social life moving between New York, Paris, and London. Figures such as Josephine Baker embody this exchange, navigating couture, performance, and politics with agency and style. Through this context, you are invited to consider fashion as a site of transatlantic dialogue, shaped by movement, visibility, and access, before encountering the exhibition itself.

In the final session, Dr Rose Sinclair MBE offers you a rich exploration of Althea McNish’s life and work, foregrounding her as an artist-designer whose practice brought together colour, rhythm, and a deep sensitivity to the natural world. Her career is traced across textiles, interiors, and fashion, highlighting both her technical innovation and her refusal to be defined by a single discipline or category.

Crucially, McNish’s connection to Schiaparelli is illuminated through her work with the Ascher design house, where her vibrant textile designs entered the world of haute couture. Drawing on V&A collections and original research, and supported by close engagement with fabric samples, the session will reveal to you McNish’s enduring influence and positions her within a wider story of twentieth-century design, cultural exchange, and creative independence.

Beverages will be available, and it is advisable that you bring a packed lunch.

Please note, that you will be walking and standing for extended periods of time in the exhibition – a limited number of museum chairs will be available on the day.

joy is an act of resistance….Poet Toi Derricotte.

 
Black joy is a force. It lifts us through the hardest times and gives us the courage to speak with one voice. In its simplicity, it is radical because choosing joy is an act of resistance and resilience. Through Black joy, we honour our history, our culture, and our community. We come together to share, to listen, and to support one another especially in spaces that are perceived to not always feel welcoming. Black joy is not just a feeling. It's emotional well-being. It regenerates the soul.  Janet Browne, Senior Producer Africa and Diaspora.

A detailed programme will follow soon.

 

This event is in collaboration with the Black Gallery Visitor Network (UK).