Westminster Menswear Archive: Shifting the Tectonic Plates of Educational Tradition

Adjacent to the rolling greens of Northwick Park, Northwest London’s suburbs may not be home to internationally leading arts scholarship at first thought. But nestled within, stands the architectural behemoth of the University of Westminster’s Harrow campus, with its Westminster Menswear Archive garnering a reputation now shifting the tectonic plates of educational tradition. On a truly British spring day – think struggling sunlight and clouds teetering on the brink of an unexpected downpour – it feels somewhat a world away from the rush of the Capital and its creative charge, possibly heightened by the nearby school fields and golf course. But after clocking many well-dressed acolytes with wind sail-esque portfolios, so too came the affirmation that we were at one of London’s, and moreover, the world’s, most renowned fashion institutions. Led by Lead Curator Dr Danielle Sprecher and co-founder Professor Andrew Groves, we climb to the sixth floor of their central arts building. Sandwiched between music studios and production suites, their corridor of the fashion floor comes aptly strewn with toile patterns and taped mood boards. Adjoining final year pupils present their graduating collections to onlooking teaching staff. The locked archive sits opposite. On its door is a crisp, scribed sheet of tacked A4 – appointment only bar one weekly supervised drop-in session. And, upon its opening, is admittedly much smaller than we’d envisaged. Filled to the rafters, our team and equipment take up most of the free space. Fabric draped racks flank the space, peppered with mannequins and shelves of stacked print, spanning Japanese denim to pattern cutting. The archive’s depth then, studded floor to ceiling with garment filled boxes and rails, can’t be overlooked. Visually, this is as stereotypical an image can be for art schools. But having seared for the last near 150 years, the spirit here is far from traditional, and its archive, a hot-ticketed anomaly that sets Westminster firmly apart from other universities. Creative: Oliver Birch Copywriter and Interviewer: Meg Parrott Photography: Jay Johnson Production: Amy Bajenski and Olivia Joan Brown Videography: Corey Rid of La De La