Fred Perry was a revolutionary tennis player like no other. A three times Wimbledon champion with a killer forehand, he was the only British player to ever achieve a Career Grand Slam – and still is! When he launched his eponymous label in the early 1950s with ex-Australian football player Tibby Wegner, it proved to be an effortless blend of sportswear and street centricity. Soon, Fred Perry the brand became a household name, cementing itself as a symbol of individuality and of belonging across everything from elite sportsmen to fringe subcultures.
This month at the Design Museum’s Huth Galley in London, Fred Perry takes centre stage. An ephemeral exhibition showcasing June 10 through the 19, the free exhibition celebrates 70 years of the iconic Fred Perry polo shirt. First designed in 1952 with a focus on lightweight functionality, the quintessential preppy piece was made to be practical and stylish both on and off the tennis court.
Dubbed Fred Perry: A British Icon, the presentation navigates how design, sporting and musical collaborations have worked to shape the brand’s identity. From its previous link ups with vanguard labels including Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Raf Simons, Comme des Garçons and Nicholas Daley, emboldening each talent to maximum effect.
What’s more, signifying the label’s unique relationship with live music, the exhibition spotlights the brand’s programming of global music events. From providing a platform for artists at the cutting edge of the underground, to collaborating with the biggest names music – including Amy Winehouse, The Specials and Gorillaz. Prepare to indulge in an immersive experience where the music that has provided the soundtrack for Fred Perry’s 70 year history fills the room.
Walk amongst a vast installation of original objects, snippets of the design process and a series of specially commissioned films. You’ll see rare archival material and early prototypes from typographical experiments to the evolution of the laurel wreath logo. It’s an optical timeline of Fred Perry’s subcultural significance from mods to skinheads through anecdotal stories and designs comprising its global reach and tracing each component back to the tennis champion who started it all.
From its origins in tennis to its contemporary, neoteric designs, the retrospective culminates the legacy of one of Britain’s most enduring brands.
Photography courtesy of Fred Perry. ‘Fred Perry: A British Icon’ is open from June 10-19, 2022 at the Design Museum.
