Margaret Howell opens photo archive in book and London show

Margaret Howell is opening her personal photo archive to the public.

The label that carries her name will release a bilingual book and stage a London exhibition of pictures she has taken over many decades. The book comes first. 'Margaret Howell Life and Work,' printed in Japanese and English, will be published by Shueisha, the Japanese publisher, on Oct. 22, according to WWD. Readers will be able to follow the same material in both languages in a single volume.

The show follows almost immediately. Personal photographs taken across many decades will go on display at her Wigmore Street store and showroom in London. That space works as both shop and working showroom, where clothes are sold and presented to buyers. The exhibition will run from Oct. 23 to Nov. 15. The back-to-back timing means the book lands one day, and the walls go up the next, with just over three weeks to catch the display.

Readers who know Howell's earlier publishing will find a link. In 2006 she released 'Margaret Howell Houses,' a book focused on ways of living through her own home and the homes and interiors of friends. Twenty years on, the lens is wider. This time the subject is her own life and work, told through images she made herself rather than clothes on a rail. It is a personal record, not a seasonal lookbook.

The new pictures will not stop at the page and the wall. A selection will feature in the Margaret Howell 2027 calendar. That moves some of the personal photographs into a familiar, everyday format. They will sit on desks and kitchen walls through next year, after the exhibition closes.

There is context behind the Japanese-English format. Howell's company has been majority owned by Japan's TSI Holdings Ltd for decades. The bilingual edition speaks to an audience that spans London and Japan, and to a business that has long operated across both countries.

What makes this stand out is the viewpoint. These are not advertising shots. They are personal photographs, kept over time and now arranged for strangers to see. You do not need to follow fashion weeks to follow them. For anyone curious about how a designer looks when no product is involved, the book and the Wigmore Street walls should give a direct answer.