Finest fashion moments of London Frieze Week 2023

Fashion has well and truly infiltrated Frieze Week, with a slew of happenings across the city to coincide with the arrival of Frieze London 2023, which opens to the public tomorrow (12 October 2023). Whether fashionable new sponsors for the fair itself or the numerous other happenings across the city – from a blockbuster Gucci Cosmos exhibition to Dover Street Market’s annual Frieze takeover, as well as relaxing gong bath courtesy of Birkenstock, Tekla and Matches – there is plenty to keep both art and style aficionados amused throughout the week. Here, we run down the fashion-and-Frieze crossovers that aren’t to be missed.

Best fashion moments at London Frieze Week 2023

Stone Island and Dunhill become Frieze partners

The year’s Frieze in London welcomes two new principal partners: Italian streetwear label Stone Island and British heritage house Dunhill, the former supporting Frieze’s ‘Focus’ and ‘Frieze 91’ projects, the latter Frieze Masters. As part of the multi-year deal, Stone Island will give participating ‘Focus’ galleries – younger, less established institutions – a special bursary which is equivalent to 30 per cent of the stand fee. ‘Stone Island is built on community and creative energy inspired by research and innovation, characteristics that define the Focus section of Frieze’s art fairs,’ says Robert Triefus, the brand’s CEO. ‘Through this partnership, Stone Island will offer foundational support to some of the world’s most significant emerging galleries and artists for years to come.’ The partnership will be celebrated with a club night at Koko in Camden on 12 October, as well as a special collaborative collection with Dover Street Market, which will launch at the store the same day. 

Dunhill, meanwhile, will support this year’s edition of Frieze Masters Talks, a celebrated programme of conversations between various art world figures – this year’s participants include Sarah Lucas, Maggi Hambling, Rachel Whiteread and V&A East’s Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, among others. There will also be a dedicated Dunhill space at the fair, whereby the current collection from the house will sit alongside archival pieces, curated by Nick Foulkes, author of Dunhill by Design. 

Burberry supports Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain

Though it opened just prior to Frieze, British artist Sarah Lucas’ latest exhibition ‘Happy Gas’ at Tate Britain (until 14 January 2024) will no doubt attract those travelling to London for the fair (Lucas will also participate in Dunhill’s Frieze Masters Talks on 13 October at 3pm). The exhibition is sponsored by British fashion house Burberry, which under latest creative director Daniel Lee is hoping to forge greater links with Britain’s arts and culture scene. To coincide with the exhibition, Burberry released a special portrait of Lucas photographed by Anton Gottlob at Tate Britain and will host an intimate private dinner during Frieze Week to celebrate the partnership.

‘Humour, desire, domesticity’: read our review of ‘Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas’.

Gucci Cosmos takes over 180 Studios

Brutalist landmark 180 Studios plays host to Gucci Cosmos, a travelling exhibition that celebrates the Italian house’s archive and opens to the public on 11 October to coincide with Frieze Week. The immersive exhibition – comprising a number of garments and accessories that date from Gucci’s founding in 1921 to the present day – features dramatic set pieces from British artist and set designer Es Devlin. These include a pair of enormous white resin figures project with archival looks (an ode to Gulliver’s Travels), a luggage conveyor belt, and a surreal, futuristic imagining of the house’s archives. The exhibition will run until December 2023. 

Take a look inside Gucci Cosmos.

Dover Street Market launches ‘Frieze 2023 Happenings’

Dover Street Market’s London outpost continues its tradition of hosting a series of installations, activations and product launches to coincide with the arrival of Frieze Week. Beginning with a celebratory evening on 12 October – complete with food and drink from its in-house Rose Bakery – these include a special collaborative collection with Stone Island, the arrival of a slew of new Comme des Garçons collections, as well as various special projects with the likes of Mary McCartney, Jake Chapman, Dauphin x The Serpentine Galleries, Susan Nemeth, Angela Hill and Seana Gavin, among others. 

Tekla, Birkenstock and Matches provide a relaxing pit stop

Those seeking escape from the hustle and bustle of the Regent Park tents should head to Mayfair, where Matches is hosting a series of relaxing crystal-bowl gong baths in its Carlos Place townhouse. The occasion is Birkenstock’s recent collaboration with Danish lifestyle brand Tekla, a series of loungewear, clogs and sandals designed to capture the serenity of home. Attendees will also be able to shop the collection, launching exclusively at Matches, while the pieces can also be purchased online.

Gong baths will take place on 12 October 2023 at Matches Townhouse, 5 Carlos Place. Places can be booked here.

Thom Browne celebrates 20 years in business

American designer Thom Browne has arrived in London this week to celebrate 20 years of his theatrical collections, as documented in a new Phaidon-published tome. Browne hosted a dinner on Monday night (9 October) at London‘s V&A to mark the book’s launch – preceeded by a talk alongside critic Charlie Porter – as well as a special lunch on Tuesday alongside department store Harrods. A capsule collection – available on the brand’s website and in flagship stores around the world – will also celebrate the anniversary, featuring its year of founding, 2003, adorning a series of Browne’s iconic pieces, from varsity jackets and sports coats to a classic wool flannel pleated skirt. 

The Row hosts new work by jeweller Ana Khouri

Ana Khouri’s creations have long straddled sculpture and jewellery – Khouri had a background in fine art before starting the eponymous jewellery brand – making Frieze Week the perfect moment to reveal a new collection. Hosted by The Row in its London Carlos Place outpost, Khouri will reveal a new collection of pieces titled ‘Raw’, part of her ‘Edition’ line, which is released every two or three years. Mining Khouri’s fascination with gold – ‘its simplicity, the way it reflects the light and illuminates the skin’, as she describes – the various pieces are inspired by the process of digging in the dirt for gold. ’I was overwhelmed by a sense of reverence for the care involved in procuring such a gift from the earth and how that care can yield something so exceptional,’ she says. ‘Unearthing even the smallest fragment of raw gold, holding it in my hand, I felt enveloped by something larger – as if nature’s creative energy and my own had merged.’

Margaret Howell hosts exhibition celebrating Architectural Review’s memorable covers

Opening on 13 October 2023, Margaret Howell will host a new exhibition in her Wigmore Street store (featured in a recent behind-the-scenes film), celebrating two decades of Architectural Review covers spanning the 1960s and 1970s (eras of design that have long been a fascination for Howell). The exhibition follows a show hosted by the brand during the London Festival of Architecture 2023, whereby photographs of Britain’s cooling towers – ‘sculptural giants’ – were celebrated in a mesmerising display in the brand’s flagship store.

The Architectural Review Covers Exhibition runs at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street from 13 October – 5 November 2023.

Vestiaire Collective supports the Barbican’s new exhibition on ecology and gender

Fashion resale platform Vestiare Collective – which aims to provide a sustainable, circular way of buying and selling luxury fashion – sponsors a major new group exhibition at the Barbican, titled ‘RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology’. Across various mediums – including photography, film and installations – the expansive exhibition sees 50 women and gender-non-conforming artists explore ‘the systemic links between the oppression of women and the degradation of the planet’. A particular focus is placed on work from indigenous communities, while several of the artworks look towards a brighter future: ‘a roadmap for creative forms of civil disobedience and protest: a lesser explored, cautiously optimistic route to reconsidering our relationship to the Earth’, as the institution describes. To celebrate the launch, Vestiare Collective will host a private view and dinner on 11 October 2023. 

‘RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology’ runs from 5 October 2023 – 14 January 2024 at Barbican Art Centre

Theory ‘Shades of Fall’ 

To celebrate the launch of a new campaign, ‘Shades of Fall‘ – based on the idea of colour theory – American brand Theory hosted an exhibition of work by Wanda Koop and Kenny Rivero at No. 9 Cork Street Gallery (a partnership with Frieze, it was celebrated with an intimate dinner on Friday evening). The two artists offered their own colour theories as part of the campaign; ‘red is the most powerful and passionate,’ said Koop, while Rivero posited that ‘black is the uniform, the armour and the camouflage that lets me be everywhere and nowhere at once.’

Discover the best of Frieze London 2023 in our ongoing round-up.