In 2000, Icelandic singer Björk starred in the contentious Lars von Trier film Dancer in the Dark. Her performance was declared as ‘miraculous’ and the film ‘Greek in its fatalism’ by The New York Times. The singer was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song and she turned up on the illustrious red carpet at the 2001 Academy Awards wearing… what looked like a dead swan. This was in an era before personal stylists, when most red-carpet dresses were, frankly, a bit staid. So there was Björk, dressed in a nude body stocking beneath a feathery white tutu skirt, a swan’s neck draped around her shoulders, its head resting gently on her chest. Her accessory? An egg-shaped purse.

The swan wasn’t real – Björk spotted the outfit at Marjan Pejoski’s runway show shortly before the Oscars – but the global reaction suggested otherwise. She was almost universally ridiculed and, not for the first time in her career, dismissed as an eccentric. (It’s worth noting that when Leonardo DiCaprio posed for Annie Leibovitz in 1997 with a swan draped around his neck, everyone swooned.) But Björk’s choice of Pejoski’s dress wasn’t a stunt, but an extension of the singer’s collaboration with avant-garde fashion designers like Alexander McQueen. She also wore the dress on the cover of her 2001 album, Vespertine, perhaps as an act of rebellion.

Björk said that she hoped people would think Dancer in the Dark was a film with a happy ending. And now the swan dress has a happy ending too – a reinvention, a reassessment. It will be on display for the first time in the UK at the Design Museum’s new exhibition, Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion, which celebrates three decades of trailblazing designers who have lived and worked in the capital. Pejoski, a Macedonian fashion designer who studied at Central Saint Martins (CSM), was part of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen initiative, which provides funds and mentorship for emerging British designers. Molly Goddard, whose ruffled blue dress went viral after it was worn by Rihanna with a pair of white tennis shoes in 2017, is another alumnus. The swan dress is emblematic of the way in which the capital embraces a punky, eccentric spirit, both in its internationally acclaimed fashion schools and on the catwalk. The Rebel exhibition will display more than 100 looks from “fearless” designers including JW Anderson, Christopher Kane and Grace Wales Bonner, alongside headline grabbers such as Steven Stokey-Daley’s billowing white dress-shirt worn by Harry Styles in his Golden video, and the Harri inflatable black latex suit worn by Sam Smith at this year’s Brit Awards.

Rebecca Lewin, senior curator at the Design Museum and co-curator of Rebel, says that fashion schools such as CSM have a vital part to play in London’s fashion industry, particularly in terms of their international intake and the sharing of ideas. ‘They provide space for experimentation and opportunities to make friends, forge collaborations and gather contacts,’ she explains. ‘But most importantly, they guide students to find their own voices – and being able to tell your story and express your individuality is what being a fashion designer is all about. The greater number of different stories, histories, cultures and traditions from all over the world, the richer the outcomes for designers and their future customers.’

Lewin adds that London’s fashion culture is unique because ‘there has always been a mentality of making something from very little – finding materials in local markets, working with friends and family – as well as important financial and business support. Together, this has meant that very young designers have been able to establish their brands soon after graduating, and this has forged a unique fashion culture in the city.’

Rebel, which is presented in collaboration with the British Fashion Council and sponsored by Alexander McQueen, is divided into different sections: Art School features objects relating to London’s art colleges and offers an insight into how individuality has been encouraged; Backstage Pass provides a sneak peek into the build-up to a catwalk show; and Runway offers front-row seats to six groundbreaking shows that have impacted the fashion world, including collections by Sinéad O’Dwyer – whose designs challenge industry beauty standards – and Craig Green, noted for his utilitarian, “emotional” clothing lines.

Although it is, to an extent, an immersive exhibition, Rebel is also about taking visitors on a journey through the recent history of London’s fashion culture. The question that lingers is how “shocking” Pejoski’s swan dress is some 20 years after Björk wore it with such grace. Lewin is adamant that the dress is now truly iconic. ‘It’s the most brilliant piece of design, bringing together classical references – the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan – with a pop sensibility and a deep irreverence,’ she says. ‘Given the pieces that have “shocked” on the red carpet since, it’s difficult to conceive how surprising it would have been to encounter this dress among the evening gowns of the 2001 Oscars, but it’s a really joyful, playful dress to behold.

Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion is on at the Design Museum from 16 September 2023 – 11 February 2024