The evolution of the traditional British brand.

In recognition of growing public, critical and commercial awareness of contemporary design, a new trend has emerged among British traditional and luxury brands. Companies that have for many years been associated with timelessness and quality are commissioning new product ranges from hot young designers, a process that has been described as the fashion equivalent of HRT (Vogue, May 2002). POSH is a British Council touring exhibition which explores this phenomenon through the products, designers, companies, and the views of the consumers and media.

In 1932 author Stephen Tallents identified the English countryside, the English home, Bond Street, Oxford, tailoring and gardening as the essential ingredients of British national identity. For most of the twentieth century, the associated values of tradition, quality and heritage dominated notions of Britishness both at home and abroad.

Attitudes had changed by 1997, however, when Mark Leonard’s influential Demos study Britain™: renewing our identity, concluded that Britain’s traditional image was in need of rejuvenation. British business were also becoming wary of overtly marketing their national identity for fear of the more negative connotations of these same values - no-one wanted to be thought of as old-fashioned, insular and resistant to change.

In the last five years, design in Britain has undergone something of a renaissance, with fashion and interior designers in particular enjoying unprecedented levels of public recognition. Nevertheless, the traditional image of Britain still prevails in many countries and, judging by the international success of some of Britain’s most traditional luxury brands, manages to avoid such negative connotations.

Originally a description of refined ladies travelling to India by ship (Port Out, Starboard Home), ‘posh’ is now a catch-all definition of all things long-established, classy and expensive, or those that would like to appear so.

Posh can also describe the companies featured in the exhibition, from clothing brands whose traditional market has been the landed, monied gentry to purveyors of jewellery and silverware to the royal houses of Europe.

In addition to showing new products, the exhibition’s content addresses key issues relating to corporate strategy, design process and consumption.

POSH was designed by Stickland Coombe  with graphic design by UNA (London).

Curator and project manager: Sorrel Hershberg.