Ana Locking. Nostalgia / Utopía

The Community of Madrid’s Sala Canal de Isabel II will present a  retrospective on the fashion designer, Ana Locking, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2021) and National Fashion Design Prize (2020) from 4 March to 12 July 2026, reviewing two decades of her designs in which fashion is presented not only as an aesthetic discipline, but also as a narrative, emotional and political language. 

The exhibition revolves around the idea of fashion as a narrative in transit between nostalgia and utopia: a look at the past that transforms into a desire for the future, in which the utopian side is like a memory.

More than 160 garments make up a narrative journey that reveals how the designer understands fashion as an act of thought and engagement with her time. A journey through memory and imagination that invites the present to be challenged through designs that are used as a means to tell intimate and collective stories, intertwining politics, desire and identity.

Image Credits:

• Autumn - Winter Collection 2022: “Paranormal”. Short Rococo-inspired dress made of organza with a rubberised floral print in multiple layers of ruffles and puff sleeves. ©Photo: Jesús Madriñán.
• Autumn - Winter Collection 2018: “Fear”. Large, puffed cape with a gathered neck and a ruffled hem, made of black technical fabric. ©Photo: Jesús Madriñán. // Autumn - Winter Collection 2022: “Paranormal”. Two-piece ball gown made of red taffeta jacquard. It consists of a corset with asymmetrical elements and a full skirt with a high side slit.  ©Photo: Jesús Madriñán.
• Spring- Summer Collection 2017: “The Thinker”. Two looks: a blouse with cotton devoré knit and a full, layered skirt made of camouflage canvas, slashed and hand-stitched in a puzzle-like pattern.  A dress with hand-crafted patchwork, made of camouflage-print canvas. ©Photo: Jesús Madriñán