| |
|
Today I finally made it to the exhibition of Gianni Versace's work that is currently showing at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I suppose the sheer amount of material used on much of his work was the most noticeable thing. Though I've never been a fan of the label the clothes are certainly worth seeing and the entrance is graced by that Liz Hurley dress.
There are six sections in total, the 'Courtyard' exhibits day to day clothes that come from the atelier, in other words everything in the show is couture and not ready-to-wear. Next there's the 'Ballroom' containing clothes specifically designed for celebrities and some that came from a haute couture collection from '89.
I loved the third part of the gallery entitled 'History' because it referred to so many other periods of fashion and the work was based on some other designers (Vionnet, Poiret...). The art room had this great dress that looked like a section of a Marvel comic but was based on pop art and then there was the theatrical clothing. Designed for operas, ballets and any number of shows it really was excessive.
In the last room there were clothes you could touch and examine but unfortunately none of those famous dresses with their fine boning and layering. It was absolutely wondeful to see the work up close but the curators made that all too common mistake of placing the garments so that you couldn't see the backs and I suppose that it's my one real criticism.
While the clothes are certainly extravagant I didn't see any excess, if anything each piece seemed to employ ideas about material that we generally seem to have lost because it is now used in such a sparse way. |
|
|
