Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams


Gorgeous exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the designs of the Dior couture house.

This is a wonderfully designed show with the clothes shown in beautiful settings with good use made of mirrors to show of the exhibits and make the space feel larger. It is a bit of a crush because it’s so popular with a few bottle necks, but on the whole it’s easy to see the clothes even if you can’t read the labels. To be honest I was so blown away by the outfits that I stopped reading the text. I didn’t care what they were, they were beautiful.

The show covered all the designers who have work for the house but I did find Dior himself came across best. His outfits were what you think of as classic feminine clothes particularly the formal wear. It is what you would draw as a little girl!  John Galliano wasn’t going down so well with the slightly older clientele in the day time but I loved their fantasy feel.

It’s quite hard to describe specific bits of the show as it was all so luscious. I loved the section on clothes with a historic theme set in and around a pagoda based on the design of a scent display and incidentally perfume was well covered in the show. There was a display of clothes inspired by flowers in a garden with blossom hanging from the ceiling.

There was a room of toile’s, the garments made up in white cotton to experiment with the shapes. Pulling everything back to one colour really let you compare shapes. That was followed by a rainbow room of accessories and miniatures of the clothes. It took the opportunity to talk about the accessory designers who have worked with the house. I want the shoes!

A special mention has to go to the ballroom set at the end which was packed with evening wear around the edge and on a display in the centre. The light effects and projections on the walls and ceiling changed as you went round so you saw the clothes in day light and moonlight. Such a beautiful effect!

Closes on 14 July 2019

Reviews
Times
Guardian
Evening Standard


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my...
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B...
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more