LCF Sampled: Folk Customs and Costumes in May

Simon Costin, co-curator of Making More Mischief: Folk Costume exhibition and director of the Museum of British Folklore, discusses May Day customs and costumes with Professor Andrew Teverson, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Head of London College of Fashion, and Professor of Cultural History and Critical Thinking.

Join us for an evening exploring seasonal customs and events historically and currently associated with the season including rave, protest, May Queens, Jack in the Green, Morris dancing, Mischief Might and more.

This in conversation event and Q&A will last 60 minutes, followed by the chance to visit the exhibition out of hours until 8:30pm.

This event is free and open to all, please register to attend.

Simon Costin is an internationally respected art director and set designer renowned for the conceptually ambitious nature of his editorial and catwalk designs. He is also a museum curator and the director of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and the founder and director of the Museum of British Folklore. Born in London, he completed a BA in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of the Art. From Hermes to Lanvin, Costin has deep and diverse ties within the fashion industry, including an early seven year collaboration with Alexander McQueen. He’s also designed sets for photo shoots, collaborating with photographers like Tim Walker, Paolo Roversi, and Nick Knight and fashion designers such as Charles Jeffrey, Maison Margiela, Erdem and Moncler. Costin has both exhibited his own work within and curated shows at leading cultural centres such as the ICA, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Whitechapel Gallery, London – and places off the grid, like a forest in Argyll. In 2015 he received an honorary award from UAL as a Fellow of the Arts for his outstanding contribution to the creative industries. He lives in Cornwall.

Andrew Teverson is Pro Vice-Chancellor, Head of London College of Fashion, and Professor of Cultural History at University of the Arts London. He has published widely on the subjects of folklore, fairy tale, and contemporary fiction and culture. Publications include a critical edition, The Selected Children's Fictions, Fairy Tales and Folk Tales of Andrew Lang (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), the edited collection The Fairy Tale World (Routledge Worlds Series, 2019), and a two-volume critical edition of the scholarly writings of Andrew Lang (Edinburgh University Press 2015, with Alexandra Warwick and Leigh Wilson). Andrew is Vice President (Europe) of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research, and is on the advisory board for the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. With Mayako Murai, he has recently completed guest editing a special edition of the journal Marvels & Tales on the subject of fairy tales and fashion.  

Arriving by public transport

If you are arriving via Stratford Station, please follow the PURPLE ROUTE and walk towards the London Aquatics Centre and when you reach Sadler’s Wells on your right, turn right onto the public realm (Sadler’s Wells is still on the right-hand side) towards our East Bank campus.

If you are arriving from Stratford International, please follow the BLUE ROUTE and then merge onto the PURPLE ROUTE towards the London Aquatics Centre and when you reach Sadler’s Wells on your right, turn right along the public realm (Sadler’s Wells is still on the right-hand side) towards our East Bank campus.

If you are arriving from Hackney Wick, please follow the RED ROUTE down Carpenter’s Road, crossing Carpenter’s Road Lock and then over Tallow Bridge which leads directly onto LCF UAL’s waterfront entrance on the mezzanine level.

Arriving by car

If you are arriving by car please ask taxis to drop you off at , which is less then a 5-minute walk away from the building.

The Cow Pub address:

4, Chestnut Plaza,

Montfichet Rd,

London E20 1GL

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

London College of Fashion (Lecture Hall), 105 Carpenters Road, London, United Kingdom