Dundee is getting featured on a new BBC show about Scottish design and fashion

Picture: Steven Neish

Dundee will be the focus of a groundbreaking new two-part BBC series charting the history of Scottish design and fashion of the past 60 years.

Presented by Kirsty Wark, the series takes us on a journey across Scotland - from the untamed landscapes of the Highlands to Glasgow's city streets - and places particular emphasis on Dundee, a city whose textile heritage has been famous for centuries and whose innovative design sector is booming today.

At the centre of the series is the V&A Dundee, which not only underpins the city's position as a hub for the arts but also as a living archive of Scotland's dynamic fashion heritage.

In Episode 1, viewers are taken back to the radical decade of the 1960s, when designers like Bernat Klein, whose work is featured at the V&A Dundee, brought fashion to the masses with garments that had something to say on high streets and catwalks.

Kirsty Wark talks to leading figures and hears firsthand from them about how post-war youth culture and radical design choices revolutionised style in Scotland. With the guidance of fashion and textile expert Sheila-Mary Carruthers and writer Lynne Coleman, the series sets the stage for a rich history of style spanning decades.

Episode 2 continues the story, shifting its focus to the vibrant influences of the 1990s and beyond. As Scotland embraced cultural diversity—powered by waves of immigration and a blooming creative renaissance—the country saw the rise of iconic designers such as Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane.

The program also highlights how fresh talent is revolutionising Scottish fashion in the digital age.

Perhaps one of the most vivid pieces of evidence to prove this creative phenomenon is that of Ellie Diamond's iconic drag outfit, "Denise the Menace." Having appeared during season two of RuPaul's Drag Race UK within the debut challenge of "Queen of Your Hometown," the outfit in celebration of Dennis the Menace has since added splashes of colour to Dundee's corridors within the walls of McManus Galleries as a pop representation of contemporary drag culture.

With close-up interviews, archive footage, and expert analysis, the BBC drama will weave a vibrant tapestry of Scottish fashion history - from the iconoclastic ethos of the 1960s to the digital revolutions of the 2020s.

Icons of Style airs on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer on 16 March 2025.