Fancy Pants at The Portico Library

Creative Tourist

Visit now

Fancy Pants

The Portico Library, Chinatown
1 February-25 March 2019

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Fancy Pants at The Portico Library, Manchester
The Portico Library
Book now

In 1836, a grand fancy dress ball was held in The Portico Library. The event attracted around 5,000 attendees and was reported in newspapers across the country. In Fancy Pants, books from the library’s collection and new artworks examine how dress and costume’s relationships with gender, class, power and identity have always been complicated. The exhibition features artists Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Ruby Kirby, Lindsey Mendick and Camille Smithwick and volumes from the collection.

What's on at The Portico Library

Where to go near Fancy Pants at The Portico Library

City Centre
Restaurant
Blinker

Elegant cocktail bar in the centre of Manchester, with a relaxed atmosphere and wonderfully friendly staff.

moose coffee manchester creative tourist
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Moose Coffee Manchester

Moose Coffee celebrates ‘the best meal of the day’ (brunch) in American style, with stack pancakes, potato hash, Huevos Rancheros and eggs any way. There’s always a queue.

Home-X
Manchester
Restaurant
Home-X

Home-X is the online spin-off of renowned Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone’s Six By Nico restaurant. This is geared around kit meals to cook at home.

Manchester
Restaurant
Pho Manchester

Pho does a fine line in pho, the noodle soup that’s a staple of Vietnamese street cuisine.

Manchester
Shop
Siam Smiles

Now based at the Great Northern, Siam Smiles is a food stop that’s hot on everyone’s lips.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

hunan chinese restaurant manchester
Chinatown
Restaurant
Hunan Restaurant

Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown, may be a bit off the beaten track – but it’s all the better for that.

What's on: Exhibitions

Culture Guides

Ceramic Sculpture
Exhibitions

Across Manchester and Salford, exhibitions are thinking hard about how things are made – and how materials carry stories.

A pair of white angel wings displayed against a dark, black background. The lower parts of the wings are stained with vivid red, resembling blood splatter.
Theatre

This month’s theatre highlights span dystopian classics, political thrillers and bold new opera.

Music

From underground festivals showcasing emerging talent to global icons unveiling new work, here are our latest live music highlights.

Food and Drink in the North

Spring is coming, at some point. As for now, it’s cold and grim so take our advice and shelter in a nice warm restaurant, pub or bar.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.