Creative Direction

Event curation proposal, celebrating Daphne Brooker, late pioneering head director of Kingston University's Fashion department.
(Work published in Brooker Magazine and promoted at Celebrating 60 Years of Fashion Event Night)

Our exhibition aim was to present the fierce impact Daphne Brooker made on the Kingston
Fashion Department, through her lioness-like character, as well as highlighting the
diversity and growth of Kingston as a community and creative space. We wanted to
showcase Brooker’s pioneering work within the archive, as well as promoting upcoming
designers of colour in the current classes of Kingston University. We were fascinated by
the harshness of Brooker’s teaching comments, inspiring students to push themselves and
create the best they could. Described as “The Anna Wintour” of Kingston, we really wanted
to emulate her power and regalness in the exhibition we created, therefore, calling her
“The Lion Mother” felt right.
The exhibition was designed to start with the past: a life-size recreation of Daphne’s office,
an almost throne room, with her iconic red pen and papers left behind. Audiences would
have moved through the hanging archive room into the revolving screening space, where
they would have been met with a fusion of past and present; Daphne’s inaugural lecture
and our own short film of a stylized Daphne in modern day would be circling audiences as
they pass by. Taking our viewers into present day Kingston, a statement faux fur wall with
diverse mannequins lining it and an interactive scroll room would mean that the
community could write their own comments and achievements, simultaneously creating
their own 2025 Kingston Archive. Finishing the exhibition, we would showcase the future:
where viewers could try on the current fashion department’s designs in a digital mirror.
We were passionate to appeal to the entire Kingston community; everyone of all ages and
abilities, making the exhibition sensory stimulating and supportive with seating areas. We
greatly enjoyed researching into the past, looking at what Kingston and fashion looked like
back then, and seeing how far it has come, as well as pushing ourselves to do such a
wonderful woman like Daphne justice.