Tory Turk

This October MA Fashion Curation alumna Tory Turk curated ‘Sneaking into Fashion’, a 10-day exhibition at the Covent Garden Piazza.

The exhibition, put on by Javari.co.uk, celebrates trainers, exploring the origins of this style of footwear (in the 1920s trainers were called sneakers) through to their role in modern society. Tory sourced 48 pairs of trainers to tell the story of their development from simple generic plimsoll to fashion staple.

Famous trainers included:

• loans from the private collections of Liam Gallagher, Mo Farah and The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett
• customised/art pieces from Fred Butler, Sander Nagel, Print Club and Benji Blunt
• historic pieces from Trainerspotter, Northampton Shoe Museum, Deluded Monkey and the Spice Girl Museum collections
• pieces from high-fashion brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Maison Martin Margiela, Bernhard Willhelm and Jean-Paul Gaultier

Speaking to Snapshot, Tory said:

I wanted the exhibition to explore how trainers have become part of the fabric of our culture. The exhibition revealed the technological, cultural and aesthetic journey of the trainer specifically highlighting the relationship with sports, popular culture, art, design and fashion. The trainer has many uses and guises. I wanted the variety of examples on display to reflect the abundant choice of pumps, cushioning, materials, colour-ways and laces that we are all subjected to alongside the use of heavy branding and celebrity endorsement.  Wearers from school children to sporting legends to musicians to catwalk models, the trainer always captures the zeitgeist.  I wanted the exhibition to continually reference popular culture whilst drawing attention to the narrowing gap between sport and fashion.

Press for the exhibition included Grazia, Stylist, The Guardian, Daily Mail and Time Out.

• MA Fashion Curation