Beyond The Little Black Dress -- National Museums of Scotland

Role: Creative and Production Design and Delivery

Formats delivered: Exhibition films and soundscapes

Scope: Stakeholder Briefing and Engagement (National Museums of Scotland, multiple design houses) I
Concept Development
I Visual Storytelling I Art Direction I Sound Design

Overview
Commissioned as creative lead on moving image and sound, this project formed the emotional and narrative heart of Beyond The Little Black Dress — the 2023 flagship fashion exhibition for the National Museums of Scotland. Designed to mark 100 years since Coco Chanel redefined modern femininity through a single silhouette, the brief called for cinematic interpretation of a cultural icon.

Our challenge: Start with Chanel's advent of the Little Black Dress, and its announcement on the cover of Vogue 1926, and connect every exhibited piece back to that fashion moment, recontextualising a century of cultural evolution in style, history, politics and fashion, into a multi-sensory visitor experience that could speak to both fashion historians and new audiences alike.

The Work
Eight bespoke exhibition films, blending licensed archival footage (CHANEL, the King’s Estate), interviews with contemporary designers, and runway sequences from some of the world’s most influential fashion houses.
 Original interviews with designers who have dressed icons from Beyoncé to Debbie Harry, reflecting on the social and artistic resonance of the LBD today.
 A historically grounded opening film, offering audiences an immersive entry point into 1920s social change, feminist politics, and the emergence of a dress that defined modernity.

Execution
--Attending Curatorial team briefings to anchor into the creative ambition client team and create responsive Concept films to articulate and sense check interpretation of client vision.
--Led a multi-disciplinary creative team through concept-to-install execution, balancing conservation constraints with cinematic storytelling

--Directed designer interviews, shaped narrative arcs, and crafted a visual language in step with institutional tone and curatorial vision

--Secured and coordinated high-value archival content from multiple international rights holders

Designed installation-ready AV for long-term durability and museum-grade technical compliance

--Two original soundscape compositions:
- A 1920s cocktail party setting — layered with jazz, crystal, and silk — situating the LBD in its early social context.

- A couture atelier ambience — quiet, precise, and tactile — capturing the reverence of handcraft.

Together, these AV pieces served as both companion and guide, enriching the visitor journey through atmospheric storytelling and spatially sensitive design.
Directed designer interviews, shaped narrative arcs, and crafted a visual language in step with institutional tone and curatorial vision

Secured and coordinated high-value archival content from multiple international rights holders

Designed installation-ready AV for long-term durability and museum-grade technical compliance



Execution Highlight
Playing alongside Chanel’s original 1926 Little Black Dress, this film required a bespoke visual treatment to harmonise century-old archival footage with contemporary interviews and catwalk imagery. We developed custom light flares and controlled film bleed techniques to evoke a cinematic, Hi-8-inspired 1920s newsreel aesthetic. The result: a seamless visual language that echoed Chanel’s signature black-and-white storytelling style — drawing audiences into a journey through 65 iterations of the Little Black Dress.



Results
Audience Impact:
--Over 2 million in-person visitors during exhibition run (2023)


Critical Acclaim:
--★★★★★ reviews in Vogue, The Times, The Guardian, The Scotsman

--Covered by BBC, Sky Arts, Vogue Runway, and BBC Radio Scotland


Institutional Value:
One of the top-performing exhibitions in National Museums Scotland’s programme

Cemented AV storytelling as a core pillar of future curatorial experiences