We are the Lotherton Youth Curators and we have been working together on the teenage fashion display for the fashion at play exhibition. We are group of young adults from around Leeds aged 14 to 24, all interested in museums and art gallery work.

We have been meeting since summer 2023 discussing themes, ideas and research, making decisions on what stories to tell through the display and what is most significant to our group. For example, we debated social and cultural identity, school uniforms and trends.

We worked as part of a team to create an exhibition on current teenage fashion trends. We started off with creating mood boards from fashion magazines and a tour around Leeds art gallery to sketch the works there. We delved into costume and textiles collections at the Leeds Museums and Galleries Discovery Centre. We completed research and gathered information from the Marks and Spencer’s fashion archives to inform the vision and development of the exhibition. After agreeing on our objectives, we undertook contemporary collecting such as visiting the high street and buying clothes and accessories for the display. We chose a range of shops which reflected our buying habits such as charity, vintage, high street shops and online shopping.

We then worked in small groups to compose the interpretation cards for each outfit, the process and the display as a whole. Finally, we came together to work on the installation of our display cases. This included dressing mannequins, organising the space, adding structure to the garments and accessorising the outfits.

We’d love to say a huge thank you to Angie, Dee and Natalie for guiding us through this project and supporting our ideas. Special shout out to always supplying us with tea and biscuits. We hope you enjoy what we have curated and all the stories you’ll find in the house.