500 years ago, Henry VIII was king of England. He and his wife Catherine of Aragon had just celebrated the birth of their daughter, Mary, though Henry was desperate for a son to succeed him, and Thomas More completed his book “Utopia” describing the political system of an idealised island state, published in Latin in Leuven (although not published in English in England until 1551).

Thomas More knew the River Thames well.  He lived on the riverside at Crosby Hall in Chelsea, singing in the choir of Chelsea old Church, would have travelled by barge as his career developed to the palaces at Hampton Court and Westminster and may well have made a final journey to the Tower of London for his execution for treason in 1535.

He would not recognise the stretch of the river occupied today by Somerset House.  In 1516 it was a series of palaces, with extensive grounds running down to the waterside.  He might smile at the yellow flag with a “happy face” flying over Somerset House to mark a year of events around the theme of “Utopia” responding to his ideas for a different and better world through the arts of the 21st century.

Fashion is one of those arts.  Going back 500 years, “It is without doubt, that the clothing for noble men and women in the reign of King Henry VIII were exquisite. Portraits show a woman’s silhouette is conical in shape whereas the men’s silhouette is wide and square. For both men and women, fabrics are rich and luxurious using sumptuous silks and satins, the finest linens and velvets with abandon.”  (Bess Chilver)

During London Fashion Week, the eighteenth century rooms of the west wing of Somerset House were transformed into displays showing the optimistic future of fashion by over 80 new designers. Appropriately international, as the 15th and 16th centuries were great times of international exploration, the designers in “Fashion Utopias” represent 24 countries from all across the world, including Korea, the Philippines, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, Romania, Indonesia, Egypt and Guatemala with each country creating a specially-curated display, the imaginative designs for which are as interesting as the fashion itself and which shows the versatility of these historic rooms and the creative talent of these new designers.

“Fashion Utopias” is this year’s International Fashion Showcase, a forward-thinking legacy of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Going back to Utopia, Thomas More did have something to say about fashion:  “[how can anyone] be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep.”