Out and About... Hollywood Costume

Hollywood Costume Exhibition at V&A

The same time that I went to see the Valentino exhibition I also went to see the Hollywood costume exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I was really worried because the tickets had been sold out online so I was concerned I wasn't going to get in to see the exhibition especially when we got there early and there was already a queue! It was all ok though, we got in! Unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken :( (so these photos are not my own.) I really liked seeing the iconic costumes up close that are from very famous and well known films. It made me want to go buy lots of films to watch again, one of my favourites being Wizard of Oz and the Moulin Rouge costume worn by Nicole Kidman.

I loved seeing the little details up close and seeing things you might not have noticed while watching the films. How to the extent some films have faked it to make certain fabrics or embellishments look richer and real when really they are made out something cheap.

 

This was especially apparent in a dress from the film Camelot, Guinevere's dress worn by Vanessa Redgrave, had hand sewn pumpkin seeds decorating it and the train. It looks so beautiful and delicate you wouldn't have known it was pumpkin seeds unless u looked really closely and that was after being told what they were. 

 

The Bride Wore Red worn by Joan Crawford as Anni Pavlovitch

Samson and Delilah




A Room with a View worn by Keira Knightly and Helena Bonham Carter



Dracula




102 Dalmations good and bad Cruella Deville



The Philadelphia Story - Katherine Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's - Audrey Hepburn


Bugsy and Funny Girl



Basic Instinct


Superman 4


Saturday Night Fever


The Seven Year Itch



The Wizard of Oz





Twilight Saga, New Moon



Kill Bill


The Birds


Casino


Taxi Driver



The Iron Lady



Mamma Mia






Cleopatra



Brokeback Mountain


Dream Girls


The Circus


The Queen


Fight Club


Addams Family




Addams Family



Elizabeth: The Golden Age


Shakespeare in Love

The exhibition ends tomorrow so if you get the chance go see it for yourself if you are interested in film and costumes! 

Out and About... Valentino

Valentino....

Over Christmas I went to the exhibition at Somerset House in London to see the Valentino collection. I was so excited to see the dresses up close as I have always liked their designs but have never had the chance to get a closer look. They did not let me down. The dresses were amazing dating from the 1950s to present and were arranged in colour sections of the dresses and outfits to make them look like mini collections even though they might not be from the same era. What I did not like about the exhibition was that it was set out in a tunnel like atmosphere, where there was a long walk way which was suppose to be like you were walking the runway at a fashion show with chairs on either side mingled in between the dresses with famous people's names on to represent the front row at a fashion show. Instead I felt a bit like I was at a cattle market being pushed along in one direction and not being able to take my time on the dresses when there were impatient people behind eager to get a closer look and blocking my way. Also the numbers didn't run in a logical order to me so I was constantly turning the pages in the little book you were given to give details on the dresses, trying to figure out which one was which and having to try and fight my way back down the lane to the ones I had missed. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it, seeing the details up close of the embroidery and construction. I definitely left feeling inspired by it. As I couldn't take pictures in the exhibition I underlined the ones I liked in my book and researched them. I also like the fact at the end of the exhibition there was a table set out with the different couture techniques Valentino has used in his work to create layers, pleats, structure that hadn't been seen before he invented them.

If you are interested in couture designs and fashion I highly recommend going to this exhibition which is around till the 3rd of March.

Here are some of the designs I loved from the exhibition...

1959 navy blue cocktail dress with panel detailing on the back

 

A/W 1989/90 white cady jacket and dress ensemble with silk embroidery and sheepskin trim at the collar and cuffs

 

 

designed in 1955, realised in 1990, white rebrode lace evening gown with pink degrade chiffon drape detailing. A tribute to Mexican actress Maria Felix

 

 

 

 

A/W 1992/93 black and white velvet satin evening dress with jet and rhinestone embellishment

 

A/W peach silk crepe evening dress with beaded embellishment

 

 

There was many more dresses that I liked but I can't seem to find any pictures!!

My work... Mark Making

Over the past semester and Christmas half term I have been trying to create mark making prints that I could then put onto a screen to then create screen printed textile pieces. I have really enjoyed this process of finding different materials to then press onto paper in either a repeated formation or randomly. I started off with scratching into the mono printing ink with a stick and pressing the paper on top of the ink that had been rolled out. I liked this effect because you can get some 'blobbyness' on the paper. I've also used objects such as corrugated cardboard, fake flowers, net fabric and the roller itself to create my designs. I find it interesting to look at different ordinary objects and think how can I use that? I don't like things being extra neat because I like the hand made look and the messiness is something that comes with it in my eyes, (that's my excuse anyway!)

Here are some of my designs...(these are copyrighted so please use for inspiration but nothing else!)