My Top 5 Exhibitions of 2015

If you've read my blog for a while, you'll know that I love a good exhibition. And 2015 was no exception! Scanning through my diary I realised that I've visited a whopping 15 exhibitions at 9 different museums and galleries over the last 12 months including galleries in London, Paris, Bath, Budapest and little old Eastbourne. My ArtFund Pass definitely worked out overcome and more than paid for itself! So, I thought I narrow them down to my top 5 museum events of the year and have a good ol' reminisce about my favourites.

1. Savage Beauty at the V&A

The Alexander McQueen exhibition was one of the most anticipated of the year and I remember logging on to my computer the moment tickets came on sale. I was not disappointed - this was a showstopper in every sense of the word. Beautifully displayed outfits in glass cages conjured up a cabinet of curiosities feel and showcased McQueen's sheer creative genius perfectly. Read my full review here.

2. Sonia Delaunay at the Tate Modern

I hadn't heard much about Sonia Delaunay before exploring the summer exhibition at the Tate, but now she is one of my absolute favourites. A textile designer, painter, tapestry weaver, and fashion designer; the sheer abundance of her creative output is so very impressive. I couldn't help but be inspired by her as you can read in this blog post here. She truly was an incredibly talented woman.

3. Silent Partners at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Back in January I visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for the first time and saw the Silent Partners exhibition. The 'silent partners' showcased were artist's dummies of all different types and varieties, from wooden mannequins and childlike dolls to more sinister creations. This was one of the most eery and magical displays I saw this year and something a little bit different!

4. Liberty in Fashion at the Fashion & Textile Museum

When I heard that the Fashion & Textile Museum in London (one of my perennial faves) would be putting on an exhibition of Liberty fashion in the autumn I knew it would be right up my street. Florals and fashion are a match made in heaven, and the exhibition gave a wonderful look at how Liberty has influenced what we wear through the decades, from smocked blouses to ditsy print dresses. Read my full review here.

5. Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution at the Musee D'Orsary

Earlier this year I went on a mini weekend break to Paris with some friends. Luckily they also enjoy museums and were happy to come along to the Musee D'Orsay where there was an exhibition on prostitution in art. Not your average topic for a fine art gallery but I really loved what they did with this concept. Aside from some rather risque photographs from the Victorian era that would make your grandma blush, there were some beautiful paintings by Toulouse Lautrec, Degas and Manet. It was so special to see these in real life and the whole exhibition really opened me up to look at art in a different way and to see how women in Paris were seen by these predominately male artists. 

So that's my round-up of what I saw in 2015. Let me know what exhibitions you loved last year and what you are looking forward to in 2016. Here's to many more hours spent in museums and galleries!

A bientot!
Xx

Shoes: Pleasure and Pain

I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship shoes. Whilst on the one hand (or should I say foot?!) they can be undoubtedly pretty, stylish and glamorous, and give a much-needed boost to my 5 foot 2 inches, but they can also hurt like hell. Which is why the V&A's new shoe exhibition 'Shoes: Pleasure and Pain' is so perfectly named. 

On display are hundreds of shoes through the ages, each encapsulating a specific aspect of footwear. There is an area dedicated to shoes inspired by the fairy tale, including the iconic red ballet slippers worn by Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes as well as Lily James's glass heel from the recent Cinderella. Another display showed shoes worn by royalty, from Queen Victoria's pumps to Kate Middleton's nude LK Bennett's. 

The exhibition also delved into the more psychological aspect of our relationship with shoes. In a room hidden behind a velvet curtain were a collection of shoes chosen for their connection to desire and fetishism. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, shoes have been worn to reveal and conceal, and like any piece of clothing they say something about the wearer. In the 18th century, a fashion for shoes laced low on the foot was thought scandalous, as it revealed the wearer's coloured stockings beneath. And, of course, who can forget the stiletto, synonymous with femininity, sex, power, and one Carrie Bradshaw.

Pleasure and pain go hand in hand when thinking about the 'lotus' shoes worn by Chinese women right up until the early 20th century. These tiny, intricately embroidered shoes showed the extremes women underwent through the tradition of footbinding to gain a shoe size and gait that was deemed attractive. It's incredible to think that this was still in practise just a little over a hundred years ago.

Another aspect of the exhibition explored our need to collect and display shoes. Showing various shoe collections, from a society woman of the 1920s who kept her shoes in a specially made vanity case, to a more contemporary Reebok trainer collection, there is definitely something special about shoes that makes us want to cherish and preserve them, and showcase them as pieces of our personal identity.

A final showreel of cinematic shoe moments is displayed at the end of this expansive exhibition and if you ever needed a reason to re-watch the likes of Belle du Jour, The Red Shoes or Sex in the City, you'll want to now, if only to observe the beautiful shoes.

Savage Beauty

So it's finally here! Savage Beauty, the major Alexander McQueen retrospective, has hit the V&A in London, and at last the fashion designer's legacy finds itself back home. I don't think I've ever been quite so excited about a museum exhibition (which is saying a lot if you follow this blog) and never have I spent so long anticipating and imagining what it might be like.

Well, last week I was able to find out, sweeping past corridors of white marble statues and the familiar green glass sculpture to take it all in. Submerged into darkness and with the low thump of 90s club music echoing somewhere in the distance, it felt as though we were walking into one of McQueen's catwalk shows of the past. 

Inside were a series of interconnecting rooms, each representing a theme or show from McQueen's past. We met the gothic lacey gowns completely with S&M style leather straps, the romantic Victorian inspired pieces (my favourite) and the quintessential McQueen tartan, inspired by stories of the designer's Scottish heritage, as well as his final collection complete with space age shapes and those famous armadillo heels. 

I will try not to give too much away, as I hope that if you're reading this you will get the chance to go and see it for yourself. It really is a fantastic exhibition and both met and exceed my (incredibly high) expectations. The curators and staff at the V&A have done a  fantastic job at showing each collection and idea truthfully and allowing McQueen's genius to shine through. I loved the way that some of the outfits were placed within glass cases, as if they were ancient artefacts at a natural history museum.

The room of curiosities, which forms the centre of the exhibition, left us all in awe of McQueen's sheer force of imagination. Seeing each headpiece, corset and exquisitely tailored jacket in every nook and cranny of the crowded room, made me have so much respect for Alexander McQueen. How one designer had so many new, eccentric, genius ideas in his head I will never know. The deconstructed suits, the bumsters, the feathered jackets and tribal dresses all came from his imagination. I really appreciate the care and thought that went into every aspect of Savage Beauty, and also how the clothes were left to speak for themselves, with McQueen's personal life left unexamined and a background to his designs.

If you do get the opportunity to go and visit Savage Beauty then give yourself a good couple of hours to stare and marvel at the sheer genius on display. As you might expect, there are no photos allowed, so I've included a few postcards that I picked up afterwards, all showing pieces that are on view within the exhibition. I hope you're all enjoying the start of Spring, have a lovely weekend and I'll be back soon for some more fashion history goodness! xx

Horst at the V&A

For me, September always brings with it a new sense motivation and excitement and I'm feeling a lot more inspired to document more of what I've been up to on this blog. 

Yesterday I went the new Horst exhibition at the V&A. Horst was a fashion photographer who started out in the 1930s and created beautiful images for the likes of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Some of these, such as the woman untying her corset, have become iconic images and are referenced repeatedly by in magazines, illustration and even Madonna's 'Vogue' video!

Horst often photographed models alongside statues and was interested in making his models' bodies look stark, clean and solid like marble. I particularly loved his colour images which he shot in the 1940s as colour became more widely used. The close-up images of images advertising lipstick are so striking with their bright reds and corals clashing against the model's clothing and I was surprised to discover that many of his photos were edited and retouched before going to print (although nothing like the extent to which they are today).

Also on display were some of the couture dresses worn by the models. There were Chanel, Lanvin and Schiaperelli's and -my favourite- the Vionnet which was amazing to see up close. And I loved seeing his Rolleiflex camera and film negatives.

In later life Horst veered away from fashion photography to explore new ideas like photographing plants and succulents in the New York Botanical Gardens and taking pictures of his travels in Persia. The exhibition itself it huge and there is so much to take in - I'm quite tempted to go back for a second look!

Although I couldn't take any photos inside the exhibition I've included a few pictures of the postcards I bought in the gift shop. 

I hope you all had a lovely summer and are looking forward to Autumn. I'll be attempting to update here a little more so stay tuned!

Xxxx

A little trip to the V&A

Last week I managed to while away some hours at my favourite museum, the V&A. It's the perfect place for killing time and soaking in a little culture. Although they had some paid exhibitions showing, I really enjoyed just wandering around the permanent galleries and finding a little inspiration. The fashion room is of course my favourite and shows the history of fashion in a semi circle, from the Marie Antoinette style frocks of the 18th century to Vivienne Westwood pieces from the 1980s. Here are some of the dresses on show. What are your favourite places to go for inspiration?