YCC at the V&A
Back in February 2007, when V&A senior curator, Lesley Miller
was conducting research for a forthcoming exhibition about Parisian and
British couture, she visited the Yorkshire Craft Centre and examined
articles from our Textile Archive. Read about our loan to the exhibition. The
exhibition has now opened, to great media acclaim,and Clare Lamkin and
Helen Farrar of the Yorkshire Craft Centre were duly invited to the
exclusive exhibition preview. Helen explains:
"On Wednesday 19 September, the Victoria & Albert Museum threw open their doors to welcome selected guests of the fashion industry to the Private View of The Golden Age of Couture, Paris and London, 1947-1957 exhibition, to celebrate sophisticated fashion for women. Clare and I were very happy to be on the guest list. We put on our glamorous frocks, and set off to mingle with the nation’s greatest in the field, to see the exhibition incorporating the Bilbille trend books supplied from the wonderful and unique Bradford College Textile Archive. And mingle we did!
Arriving at the museum in our black cab, we stepped out like stars. A blonde and a brunette, just missing that extra little something….. We found her, approaching the entrance in a vision of purple and gold silk organza and shocking pink hair, and walked in to the party with Zandra Rhodes as if we were old friends. Almost the next person we bumped into was Mary Quant. We knew then that it was going to be a night to remember.
The champagne flowed, and the canapés on platters dressed with roses and pearls set the glamorous scene. The exhibition was opened by model Ines de la Fressange, muse of Karl Lagerfeld. But the real stars of the evening were the couture dresses. Designed by Christian Dior, Cristobal Balangiaga, Norman Hartnell, Balmain, Givenchy, Hardy Aimes, John Cavanagh & Jean Desses et al, when size zero was not a fashion option but a chunky knitting needle, these designers gave back womanly curves to the post-war girl on food rations.
Waists were nipped in and structured, and hips were accentuated by the cut of the cloth and tailoring details such as wide over sized pockets, gathers and pleats. And to complete the look, the fashion houses gave us perfume, gloves and shoes. These were the days of true feminine glamour. The exhibition is sure to impress everyone, and an absolute must for the fashion enthusiast or student to visit. You’ll adore Dior! The world is surely ready to revive his glamorous designs."
This fabulous exhibition is open until 6th January 2008.
Photographs by permission of the V&A