SAVAGE BEAUTY

Last week me and Katie had the opportunity to visit the savage beauty exhibition at the V&A and of course we said yes! NTU had pre bought tickets and were selling them to fashion students like ourselves for just £3!!! Insane. 

When we arrived in London we had a bit of a mad dash to get to the V&A as we’d booked ourselves a bit of a risky train in terms of timing, luckily we were led straight into our slot and were greeted by a huge black and white portrait of McQueen himself, a very powerful start to the exhibition.  The first collection was his graduate show, it was extremely surreal to see the garments in the flesh as they were all crafted at a phenomenal standard.  Knowing how difficult pattern cutting to perfection is myself, I had great admiration for his work.  

Following on from the first room we were greeted by a sign “I’m a romantic schizophrenic”, at the start of the exhibition we didn't see the story behind this quote, or why it was used in such a thought provoking manor.  However, after exploring further and greeted by darker and stranger collections, it felt extremely in keeping. 

We finished up the spectacular exhibition, which I can’t recommend highly enough, and if its still showing then go go go!! It is by far one of the best collections of work I have ever seen.  Afterwards, we headed on into London to grab a bite to eat and do some shopping, our feet were killing and the rain didn't hold off for the majority of the day… typical.  

Before our train home, we attempted to find London’s best milkshake, and finally we did! The yummiest strawberry milkshake i’d ever tasted and we found it in a little burger shack right by Liberty’s. Priced at only £3 we thought it was a right bargain.

By far, this was one of the best days i’ve had since being at University and even if it costs you an arm and a leg, I would not miss this exhibition! There’s a reason he is a fashion hero. 

MCQUEEN AND I

I recently watched the Alexander McQueen documentary, McQueen and I.  I wanted to clue myself up as much as possible before heading down to london, with katie, next week to see the Savage beauty exhibition… eeee how exciting! 

Admittedly, I usually have a bit of an off switch when it gets to around the 30 minute mark in a documentary but this one i just couldn't get enough of! Infact it was so good Katie had it on within the first ten minutes of me telling her how amazing it was. 

When the film starts we are introduced to Mcqueen, his early life, family members and close friends are interviewed. Then the story begins, and we are welcomed into the whirlwind of Lee Alexander Mcqueens fashion phenomenon.  Coming from a textiles background myself, I have always been interested and blown away by the life and work of many fashion designers.  I’ve always been in awe of McQueens work and the surreal and earie nature to the majority of his early collections, more interested in design rather than the make myself, I found I was immediately researching his more extravagant garments and look at the incredible structures his garments possessed. 

In the film we are also introduced to unarguably one of the most influential people in McQueens life, Isabella Blow. Starting his career off in 1992, Blow bought the entirety of his graduate collection as she was so impressed by his work.  Although the documentary was mostly informative, it began to become quite emotional as the tormented minds of both Mcqueen and Blow is brought to light.  

McQueens life and work is so moving and exhilarating you can’t help but applaud the global success of the ever growing brand. Despite the troubles McQueen faced, he is definitely one of the most influential people in fashion history and design wouldn't be were it is today without him.

Watch the full documentary HERE 

HORST EXHIBITION

On a recent residential trip to London with we had the opportunity to visit the Horst exhibition at the V&A museum, when I first heard about this trip I was sooo excited to see his amazing collection as I'm a lover of classic photography and studied him as part of my photography A-level and its safe to say I wasn't disappointed!

As materials were limited in 1906, all of Horst's work is black and white, using lighting and shadows to create interesting illusions and depth to his images.  This is an effect that interests me greatly due to my love of old photography and the distressed, classic nature to simplistic black and white images, I find the compositions of his objects also very powerful as they focus on strong curves of the figure and show the natural beauty and macro quality of the skin.

These two images shown above are favourites of mine, although they are extremely different I feel they both share similarities, for example, the shapes in both images involve a strong, unmissable curve.  The first image relies strongly on dramatic lighting and shadows, sculpting the woman's back showing the curve of her spine.  The crisp white corset and loose ribbon fastening in the image allows you to delve further into the connotations of the image and makes you question where she is and what she is doing? 

The second image leaves a lot for the imagination, making you question the meaning behind the hands and the racial diversity in the image. Although the photograph is made up of 2 individuals  of different races there is also consistency, both nails are perfectly painted in a shiny black nail varnish, this leads me to believe that both women are similar in the sense that they may be upper class as their manicures are made up of absolutely no imperfections.  The contrast between the skin tones also relates to the strong lighting and contrast within the image. 

When looking around the exhibition I was instantly drawn to these particular images as they reminded my of the work I did surrounding my final major project in my art foundation. Since coming home and researching further into the life and work of Horst, I found that when he created these images in 1945 he decided to take a break from photography and work on a new kind of project, patterns from nature.  He used shells, butterfly wings, flowers and minerals and repeated the intricate patterns over and over to create these detailed designs, this is similar to the techniques I used in my own initial designs when repeating my architecture photography for my garment inspiration.

Apologies for the low quality of these images... the files are just waaay too big! As you can see there is a clear resemblance between Horst's work and my own, I'm so happy to have had the chance to visit his amazing collection and expand my artistic knowledge!

To find out more visit this link http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-horst-photographer-of-style/... I would definitely recommend a visit to this exhibition if you get the chance.

becky x