Starting 10th July through 16th February, the Victoria and Albert Museum will feature its newest fashion exhibit Club to Catwalk: Fashion in the 1980s, showcasing more than 90 outfits by both high-end runway designers and the groups responsible for the club wear of the decade.
‘Each group of people, whether they were fashion designers, musicians or dancers, filmmakers, living together and going out together had a passion for creating something new that was almost infectious’. At night, young designers’ imaginations were sparked by a vibrant London club scene. John Galliano recalled, ‘Thursday and Friday at St Martin’s, the college was almost deserted. Everybody was at home working on their costumes for the weekend’. Designer Georgina Godley remembers, ‘Young London was all about taking risks and creating something out of nothing through passion and ambition’.
The museum dedicated the first floor to showcasing designers such as Katharine Harnett, John Galliano, and Vivienne Westwood. It shows their inspirations including punk ,pop stars , pop art ,nature and even Antoni Gaudi. The second floor is a recreation of London club scene during 1980’s. It offers a variety of styling and design inspiration (although you are not allowed to sketch). Every single item has its own amazing history behind it .From Glam Fetish, popularized by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, to Goth, to Rave, to New Romantics, every subset and camp of 80’s club fashion is featured here and the quality of fabrics , trimmings or lining is making us , 21st century people , green with envy!Not to mention about their accessories…
The exhibition is telling a story of how the fashion industry evolved from hippie skirts of 1970’s to punky leather or denim jackets , fluffy oversized jumpers or bodycon Spandex. All those clothes are making the Club To Catwalk very fascinating and getting the youngest generation closer to the idea of how it was before.I totally agree with ‘Stylist’ magazine who put that in a MUST-SEE list.
My personal favourite types:
#1 Georgina Godley dress
*It has boned hoops at the hem , neck and wrist and the whole effect is just ‘WOW’
#2’Amorphous dress’- Swanky
*I love the ‘dauby’ idea about it plus it will always have people’s attention
#3 Denim jacket, ‘BLITZ’, by Levi Strauss & Co.
*Decorated with hair barrettes . Amazing design and make.
#4 Pam Hogg ‘Warrior Queen’
* It is made of leather, pvc, fur fabric, metal studs and chains. Think it is one of those things that you must see before you die.
#5 Knitted dress by BodyMap
*it is definitely one of its kind, an amazing quality and those frills…
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