The show examines the signification of dirty as a shorthand for transgressing polished aesthetics, for dismantling impeccable craftsmanship and for grim global consumption habits. © David Parry/ Barbican Art Gallery

Distressed clothing once carried a jolt to social norms—even in the everyday moment where your mother asked with horror why you were wearing ripped jeans when you could afford denim from whole cloth. “Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion” at the Barbican in London (on view through January 25, 2026) examines the signification of dirty as a shorthand for transgressing polished aesthetics, for dismantling impeccable craftsmanship and for grim global consumption habits by way of 60 designers or design houses.

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“Dirty Looks”—a most clever title!—is not the first exhibition at the London venue that has looked at fashion as a form of judgment: “The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined” was exhibited here in 2017 (Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren as well as Jean Paul Gaultier crossover in both shows). What overlap there may be between dirty and vulgar is not examined here, however, though the idea of dirtiness (as, say, sluttiness, for example) continues to be part of the way women are assessed and dismissed.

Dirt is considered with largesse and subdivided thematically, with heritage designers in the upper galleries and emerging designers in the lower galleries. The show opens with a........

© Observer