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Gods Own Junk Yard

Fairy lights certainly rock my world. But big neon artwork rocks it even a little bit more. The Christmas season has begun and so I met with a good friend in Covent Garden for a festive beverage. We went to Cross Keys on Endell Street, which at this time of year is quite possibly the most seasonally decorated pub in the land. Shiny, sparkly, tinsels, foils  baubles and twinkles hang from every inch of the ceiling and walls. Decorations are what I probably love most about Christmas, the world seems to become a grotto of enchantment and lit up delight. Beautiful. After a warming drink or two we headed over to Beak Street in Soho, through the neon signs of the strip joints and peep shows, that when twinned with the Christmas lights of the streets made the evening appear completely other-worldly. Then we arrived at Circus of Soho. Jeepers. A neon paradise. Cult artist Chris Bracey has a pop-up shop there until the end of January. Known as ‘The Neon Man’, Bracey has been working in neon bulb art for over 35 years using salvaged, vintage, fairground and circus signs. He rescues and resurrects these beauties that would otherwise be trashed or end up sat in a neon graveyard. His work is much followed in both London and LA, and features in art, fashion and film. This small exhibition and shop is an absolute wonderland of some of his best work. It’s totally perfect for this time of year, a must see if you adore a bit of kitsch neon, one day I shall have a piece of his work on my wall. Utterly ace.

For more information visit http://www.godsownjunkyard.co.uk

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My View of Valentino

London’s Somerset House in December; positively idyllic. Beautiful chilled crisp sunshine, perfect views, ice rink full of skaters, warm tea in my tummy and a fashion exhibition too. Oh my. I love an extravagant evening gown or two and with Valentino being known for amazing dresses, I got to the exhibition ‘Valentino- Master of Couture’ as soon as my little feet could carry me there. It had only been open a few days when I went so I was expecting long queues, as were the people at Somerset House it would seem. Roped off queuing lanes were laid out ready for the demand, but alas, those lanes were empty and the exhibition was surprisingly very quiet.

Is Valentino one of the most sumptuous, glamourous, fantastical and talented dress designers of modern times? Absolutely.

Is this slightly cramped, strange and small exhibition a bit of a let down? For me, unfortunately yes.

The exhibition has been curated by Alistair O’Neill for Somerset House with Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda and is split into 3 main sections. Firstly we have ‘Valentino’ where we see personal photos of the designer himself and unseen intimate letters from the many women he dressed. The way this was styled was great, glass boxes atop of raised chairs mounted on the walls, a catwalk theme from the offset. This section was done really nicely, great unseen and unknown information, I love to get a basic insight into the subject of an exhibition.

The next and main part of the exhibition was ‘The Catwalk’. The concept of this is great, we, the viewer walk down the catwalk and the mannequins are the audience, seated and standing among chairs. To demonstrate the way couture collections are traditionally showcased to press and buyers, each mannequin had a number on their wrist, which we could match up with the list in our booklet to read about the dress. So, the concept is a good one, but sadly, for me, it didn’t work well in its realization. The lighting was really dark, I know that with clothing the lighting needs to be sensitive, but the overall feeling was of dim light making it hard to see the dresses in detail. The mannequins were awful, they were the most garish shades of terracotta, lime, parma violet and mustard. This was done to identify the era of each outfit, but my goodness, the colour choices made them look like characters from Jim Henson’s The Muppets and clashed horribly with the dainty beauty of each dress. The mannequins also had really bad and dated wigs, in all honesty I felt like I was in a dark deserted 1970’s department store. It felt far from high glamour. The long corridor shape that had been built to form the catwalk space seemed to ignore any of the gorgeousness of the location we were actually in. I would have much preferred to see these amazing dresses, these stunning works of art, in a bright, clear, open space, with room to walk around each outfit. The dresses here, had no room to breathe, the mannequins were stood and sat really close to each other. I fully understand that in order to show, say, the back detail of a dress, you need to turn the back towards the viewer, but as a result we only saw certain parts of the dresses, I was left needing a little more.

Then we had a behind the scenes look at the work of Valentino’s Ateliers. This was most probably the part that was best executed. Clear, bright and visually amazing. We got to see up close detail of couture techniques and watch short videos of the incredible work that goes into each aspect of a dress. In a glass case at the end of the exhibition was a stunning light pink organza cape made up of discs and discs of fabric, incredible. This was the one item I felt I could get a proper look at.

That was it. Although there were around 140 dresses on display, this exhibition felt very short and brief. At £12.50 each it’s not cheap either and I genuinely left feeling disappointed. The dresses are unequivocally awesome. I was mesmerized by their beauty, but it all felt cramped, dark, dated and kinda creepy with those strange mannequins. I peeped into what I assumed may be more of the exhibition to find it was a small gift shop to signal the end of the show. The fact that pretty much the only thing on sale at the shop was an awful cow print canvas shopper bag priced at £350, gave a final blow of disappointment. £350!! Just because Valentino put his label on the inside? Surely this devalues the whole notion of paying for bespoke, unique, couture pieces. These shopper bags, cheaply made, mass produced and covered in a dated animal print design insulted me as a Valentino fan. Having just paid to look at his stunning creations, to peek into a glamorous world, to witness the talent that goes into his exquisite gowns, to realize why they cost the earth…for it then to be suggested that I may like to pay an extortionate amount for a canvas bag that required no skill or expense to produce left me gobsmacked. The entire message of the show is that when you pay a high price you get superior skill and design. The bags in the shop completely debased that idea. I wouldn’t discourage any fashion lover from going to this exhibition, it’s a great chance to look at amazing dresses, and it’s a great retrospective on Valentino’s long career, but overall, it had the atmosphere of a dated cruise ship, and I don’t feel the dresses were given the exposure they demanded, which is a real shame.

The exhibition runs until March 3rd 2013

For more information visit http://www.somersethouse.org.uk

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Hooray for Hollywood Costume

Most people who like fashion and galleries, are probably aware of the current exhibition at London’s V&A; Hollywood Costume. Billed as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity to see over 100 of the most iconic costumes in the history of film-making’, my Mother and I arrived with pretty high expectations. And by heck, it certainly didn’t disappoint, this exhibition is nothing short of epic. We arrived in Kensington, had a long lazy coffee and mooched over to the V&A. My goodness it was busy, my lovely Mama is a member of the V&A which is amazing value and gets you into the exhibitions free and ahead of the queues, phew! It was bustling! I knew the exhibition had three main rooms but I had no idea how huge this show was. All three rooms were grand in size and both the curation and the styling was beyond superb. Every costume was given room to breathe, they were not behind glass which was great to see, but the security was understandably hot, no photos and no touching! The lighting was perfection, pretty dark with just the outfits given the spotlights. The information on each movie, character, designer, director and actor was really thorough and the time it took to go through the whole exhibition made us feel, at the end, as if we had been on a magical movie journey. We went into the V&A in crisp autumn daylight, and came out into the dark of the evening. Wow. We were totally absorbed and were completely unaware of time, exactly like that wonderful feeling you get after being in the movie theatre, you come back outside to real life, having just spent time in another world, gorgeous.

The amount, the variety and the provenance of all the costumes on display was literally awesome. Seeing a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, or Vivien Leigh on it’s own would be a great delight, but this exhibition houses pretty much every iconic outfit you could think of. From the beginning of movie history, up to the most recent Hollywood blockbuster, this has everything. It’s great for girls, guys, kids and older people, every single person who visits will undoubtedly see a costume that they have always loved.

One of the main draws of this show was the legendary costume from The Wizard of OZ, most especially the ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in the film. This was the first time the shoes had ever been on display outside of the USA. Exhibition curator Deborah Nadoolman took 5 years to secure the loan of the shoes from the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington. Even then, they were only loaned for a very limited time, so that they could be back in their original home in time for Thanksgiving. The Wizard of Oz is shown every year in the USA as a Thanksgiving tradition. My Mother and I saw the shoes on their last day at the V&A, yay! At the very end of the gigantic exhibition, there they were, in a small glass case all on their own. Oh my, how we gazed upon them. Not as bright and vivid as they appear in the film, the deep red shoes made my heart skip a beat, so much history and value right there in a little pair of beaten up shoes. The shoes in the movie were originally going to be silver, but got changed to red at the last moment so they would be a bolder contrast to the yellow brick road. The ones we saw have since been replaced with replica shoes-made by the same company who made the originals-for the remainder of the exhibition.

With so very many amazing costumes on display and without wanting to spoil the fun for those who are yet to visit, it’s hard to choose which ones delighted me the most, but here is my pick of the exhibition.

Below is the green velvet dress that Vivian Leigh wore in ‘Gone with the Wind’, 1939.

Tippi Hedren’s suit from Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’, 1963.

My absolute favourite dress in the show, Joan Crawford’s rich red beaded gown from ‘The Bride Wore Red’, 1937.

I was pretty much mostly loving the 1930’s looks, both the original and this silk green modern one from ‘Atonement’, 2007, worn by Kiera Knightly.

Similar to thr red Joan Crawford gown, also designed by Hollywood costumier Adrian, this silver caped and beaded 1930’s dress was another one I fell in love with. From the movie, ‘My Man Godfrey’, 1936, worn by Carole Lombard.

And of course, the classic, simple, and most iconic movie outfit worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, 1939.

Go see this exhibition, it is gob smackingly beautiful, dreamy, nostalgic, stunning, exciting, glamorous and wonderful. It is on until 27th January 2013.

 For more information visit www.vam.ac.uk/hollywoodcostume

 

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Kate Moss Up Close

I was out in London last Thursday evening to meet a friend. I heard through the grapevine that a certain Miss Moss was also gonna be out in London. Whoooooop said I.

Kate was launching her new book; ‘Kate: The Kate Moss Book’ and was signing copies at Marc Jacobs’ book store Bookmarc, near Bond Street. Camera in hand I thought I’d pop by to try and get a peek at my favourite girl. When I arrived there was a queue along the side of the shop, around 100 people, not as many as I thought, but then I think maybe her appearance had been kept kinda quiet on the whole. I didn’t choose to queue up and meet her, I preferred the idea of just getting a close-up view as she went in, so I stood with the 5 or 6 Paparazzi guys at the front entrance to the shop. Less than 10 minutes later, there she was, her Mercedes pulled up just feet in front of me and out got Kate! An exhilarated girl was I. I snapped away and surveyed her loveliness with my eyes. The shots I got are mostly pretty rubbish but I adore them. In the blinding light of the flashes Kate was petite, smiley and absolutely bloody dazzling.

The book is a huuuge heavy coffee table book and there are 8 different covers to choose from. The book contains hundreds of photographs, many of which have never been seen before, as chosen by Kate herself to showcase her career which has made her an Icon of a generation. She has dedicated the book to her husband Jamie.

Queen Kate, good to see you.

 

 

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