Portuguese Designer Ivan Hunga Garcia is one of the featured names in the exhibition “Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion”, on display at the Barbican Art Gallery, in London, until January 25, 2026.

“Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion” brings together 120 works by 60 Designers from around the world, offering a reflection on the past, present and possible futures of fashion. The exhibition invites visitors to “reconsider the beauty, value and regenerative power of creating in a constantly changing world,” says Shanay Jhaveri, Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican.

Among the pieces on display is “Cariátide n.02”, by Ivan Hunga Garcia, a creation made from SCOBY — Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast —, which serves as a statement on sustainability and identity, incorporating the exhibition’s central themes: rebellion, decomposition and rebirth.

Composed of a top and a skirt joined by eyelets and chrome hooks, the ensemble creates shifting tensions and compositions that evoke rituals of body modification. Its organic, skin-like texture gives it an almost sculptural and living quality, reflecting the ephemeral nature of the self and reducing the silhouette to its essential anatomy.

“Cariátide n.02” is part of Hunga Garcia’s multidisciplinary practice, developed in parallel with Haute Gardener, a creative laboratory that positions fashion as a speculative and philosophical space.

The work also illustrates how fashion can express the physical impermanence of the human condition, offering an optimistic glimpse of a more responsible and expressive industry.

At the Barbican Art Gallery, Ivan Hunga Garcia’s work is shown alongside iconic names such as Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Miguel Adrover and Maison Margiela, as well as emerging designers like Elena Velez, Piero D’Angelo, Yuima Nakazato and Robert Wun.

HIGHLIGHT PHOTOS: “Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion”, Barbican Art Gallery. Photo: Thomas Adank

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