Wednesday, 17 July 2013

V&A From Club to Catwalk

80s


The V&A’s latest exhibition blockbuster is named ‘From Club to Catwalk’ it celebrates London fashion in the 1980s. The 80s isn’t the decade that is remised of fondly say compared to the 60s or more recently the 90s which has been an inspiration for many 2013 summer trends, people associate the 80s with power dressing, shoulder pads and the Fame kids so all in all not a style decade to be celebrated.

However what the V&A have done is have a concentrated delve into what was coming out of the underground London club scene. When the mass public was dressed in neon lycra or box suits there was at the same time an emerging creative talent coming out of London fashion and art colleges designers such as Galliano, Kathern Hamnett and Betty Jackson are examples of this and their early garments are displayed in the exhibition.

New clubs such as the raucous Heaven and Taboo were a mixing pit of creative types who became their own art creation, people such as Leigh Bowery and Adam Ant expressed themselves in such original and innovative garments at club nights that they still inspire celebrities stage costumes today you only need to compare Lady Gaga with Bowery to see where she takes her inspiration from. With subcultures such as New Romantics and High Camp forming British fashion was so theatrical in this period and the DIY aesthetic has never been more prominent

I am visiting London next week for a few days to stay with friend so I am planning a visit so keep an eye out for a more in depth review and hopefully some sneaky pictures. What I’m excited about seeing is Leigh Bowery originals, Hamnet slogan tees and original photographs of Taboo and Heaven club nights.

The exhibition runs until 16th Feb 2014.
 

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