Fashion designer to star to open Britain’s first exhibition in Coventry

She dressed up Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne and Boy George among others.

Now acclaimed fashion designer Daniel Lismore is leaving the Hollywood glitter behind, or at least part of it, and is returning to his Coventry roots for a bold new exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

Be yourself; Everyone Else Has Been Taken will see Daniel’s thought-provoking work shown in the UK for the first time.

Read More: Coventry News

Britain’s most eccentric makeup artist branded by Vogue, many of the pieces Lismore has designed for her celebrity clients will be on display at Coventry.

The exhibition, linked to Coventry UK’s City of Culture, will showcase previously unseen archives and personal material and will examine the social, historical and cultural themes that are central to Lismores’ work and life.

Personal materials, such as photographs, found objects, ephemeras, artwork, and sketchbooks, will document and celebrate his journey from a Coventry schoolboy to a teenager to a famous fashion designer.

The massive installation An Army of My Life will take inspiration from the Terracotta Army and feature 50 3D sculptures modeled on the artist, including the cast of his face and his living manifestations of life as a statue.

According to the art gallery, the 6ft 4-inch statue was ‘formed in an elaborate and lavish Lismores ensemble, an expression of body jewelry and conceptual thought’.

‘They combined haute couture with items from his personal collection of nearly 7,000 unique curiosities.’

Lismore grew up in Fillingley before studying photography and fashion design at Butts College downtown.

As well as high-profile models and pop stars, the 36-year-old has designed costumes for the British National Opera and played a huge role in Coventry Moves, the opening ceremony of Britain’s Coventry City of Culture.

Be yourself; Everyone Else Has Been Taken was first presented in 2016, co-curated by the Savannah College of Art & Design in Atlanta USA, and is on display at the SCAD Museum of Fashion and Film.

The exhibition has also been presented in Basel, Miami, Iceland, Naples and Poland, but never before in the UK.

For this homecoming exhibition, many works will be beautified and expanded with works that were previously unseen on display.

For more information, visit www.theherbert.org/whats_on/1621/be_yourself_everyone_else_is_already_taken

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