It is uncommon for a living fashion designer to receive a solo exhibition heralding their body of work while they are still developing it. American designer Charles Harbison has received that honor with his first solo exhibition, “The Women by Charles Harbison,” on view through Jan. 31 at the Hickory Museum of Art in North Carolina. The exhibition is the first of its kind at the museum and reopens its newly renovated space, making the moment especially significant for Harbison, who is also a native of the area.
On Saturday, Harbison and Score 3 Ventures invited Women’s Wear Daily to a virtual sneak peek of the exhibition. Across three floors, works from the museum’s permanent collection by Roy Lichtenstein, Selma Burke and Alexander Calder are placed in conversation with Harbison’s archival and red carpet pieces. Four newly commissioned works, inspired by the paintings: “The Aerialist,” “Girl in a Field,” “Mickey in Her Wedding Dress” and “Indian Girl,” explore his approach to the body through fashion as art. These works bring to life his theory that fashion is both “protective armor and narrative canvas.” They showcase his love for saturated color, signature gold hardware, flowers, sculptural shapes and movement — motifs that evoke family, aspiration, joy, childhood, home, cultural history and possibility, and, as he noted, “reflect my practice as an artist.”
Hickory Museum of Art, “The Women by Charles Harbison” exhibition display. Courtesy Harbison Studio.
Connecting home and memory, the exhibition’s emotional center is a projected black-and-white image of the women in Harbison’s family gathered on the North Carolina porch. “These are the women who raised me and continue to inspire me.” he said. Presented as an exhibition piece, the porch becomes an allegory for his origin story, a first runway and a place where fashion, storytelling and community convene.
By the end, “The Women” feels less like a static display than a walk through the designer’s layered memory, training and process — an argument for fashion as fine art and a statement of Harbison’s growing place within the American fashion canon. It also recalls Yves Saint Laurent’s landmark 1983 — 1984 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, the first time the institution devoted an exhibition to a living couturier. While not a comparison or suggestion that the two careers are identical, it places Harbison within a rare museum tradition: honoring a designer’s work while he is still actively evolving it.
Charles Harbison 2026, commissioned piece paired with Lorenzo Scott’s, “Girl in a Field of Flowers” at the Hickory Museum of Art. Courtesy Harbison Studio and Hickory Museum of Art
“Them, emphasizing me in this way was important to me and to this community,” Harbison said. “I am a fine arts boy first.” Curating the exhibition with the museum offered a welcome reminder to acknowledge his process and an opportunity to understand the artist and designer not as separate, but as one.
Charles Harbison and guest attend the 2025 WWD Style Awards, and Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex in custom Harbison Studio at the 2026 Fifteen Precent Pledge gala in Los Angeles.
Harbison made his debut in 2013, closed his label in 2015, was recognized by the CFDA Fashion Trust USA in 2021, moved his studio to Los Angeles and opened Harbison Studio in 2022. It was in Los Angeles where he found success as a designer who “dresses the body.” His work has appeared on a growing A-list of celebrities including Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Meghan Markle, Mindy Kaling and Audra McDonald.
When asked what’s next, Harbison reflected on Tom Ford’s desire “to create vintage.” In turn, he said he also wants to create “vintage” clothes that are auctionable, accessible and collectible — pieces worn by women and men and collected by art and fashion patrons around the globe. With a likely return to New York Fashion Week in 2027, the exhibition positions him for the next chapter of his evolving practice.