Titanic & Fashion – The last dance

A remarkable and immersive journey

With original costumes from the iconic 1997 film of the same name, as well as never-before-shown clothing and accessories from the museum’s own collection dating back to the 1910s, Titanic & Fashion promises to be a remarkable and immersive journey. Combined with works by contemporary designers such as Iris van Herpen, John Galliano for Margiela, Craig Green, D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem, and Tess van Zalinge, the exhibition sheds light on the dreamy fashion of over a century ago while also offering reflections on the present day. The Titanic era shows surprising parallels to our modern world: an unshakable faith in technology, a wave of emancipation, class inequality, and migration movements. It was a time full of looming war and dancing on the edge of a volcano.

The end of an era – a new beginning

This unique exhibition, shown exclusively in The Hague, highlights an often-overlooked and revolutionary period in fashion: 1908 to 1918. Corsets were cast off, and bright colors replaced the soft powdery tones of the belle époque. These were the years of rebellious innovators such as Paul Poiret and Coco Chanel, or Lucile, the eccentric British fashion designer who survived the Titanic disaster. It was a time when women fought for the right to vote and faith in technological progress seemed limitless. Feminism took shape through modern, practical clothing — in a society where class divisions and exclusion were also expressed through fashion. Modern technologies — cars, telephones, airplanes, and ocean liners — gained ground, and fashion sparkled with modernity on the eve of the First World War.