The history of fashion is sign-posted by a handful of designers whose work has shaped the look of their generation. With 20 outfits, primarily glamorous evening gowns, “The Great Names of Fashion” exhibition  at the Fashion Museum in Bath will aim to showcase the crème de la crème of 20th-century fashion.

“In every area of human endeavor there are ‘big hitters’ such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh, Jean-Sebastian Bach and Beethoven, George Best and Pele.” says Rosemary Harden, the manager of the Fashion Museum in Bath, adding “This display is about the work of the biggest names in fashion: Dior and Balenciaga, Lucile and Lanvin, Schiaparelli and Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent and Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb and Alexander McQueen.”

 Highlights of the display will include a powder blue evening dress with jeweled key motifs by Elsa Schiaparelli, as well as a strapless gown with a skirt made of meters of knife-pleated white silk organdy by Christian Dior.

The exhibition will open January 31, 2015.