If there is one museum that know a thing or two about how to put on a spectacular fashion exhibition, it's the V&A Museum. From 2001's Radical Fashion - a personal favourite of mine - to the breathtaking McQueen retrospective Savage Beauty, you know when they put on a show it's going to be a big hitter.
Fans of fashion history will no doubt be tingling with excitement at the prospect of their latest showcase, unveiled to the press this morning in a preview and due to open its doors on 27th May.
Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion will be the first ever UK exhibition to explore the work of Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga and his continuing influence on modern fashion. I visited a Balenciaga exhibition in Paris a number of years ago and trust me, this is one you will want to see.
'Haute Couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives’ , so Christian Dior himself once quoted. The exhibition marks the centenary of the opening of Balenciaga’s first fashion house in San Sebastian and the 80th anniversary of the opening of his famous fashion house in Paris, and will focus on the latter part of his long career in the 1950s and 1960s.
Hailed as the introducer of revolutionary shapes including the tunic, the sack, ‘baby doll’ and shift dress, Balenciaga's client list read for a roll call of Hollywood royalty and some of the world's wealthiest women.
On display will be over 100 garments and 20 hats, accompanied by archive sketches, patterns, photographs, fabric samples and catwalk footage, as well as x-rays, animated patterns and short films on couture-making processes, uncovering the hidden details that made his work so exceptional. ”
The exhibition will be organised around three main sections: ‘Front of House’, including Balenciaga’s salons, behind the scenes in Balenciaga’s ‘Workrooms’ and the lasting impact of ‘Balenciaga’s Legacy’, featuring the work of over 30 designers of the last 50 years tracing the influence of this most revered figure in fashion right up to the present day.
The exhibition will run until February 2018 so there's plenty of a time for a visit. It will also be accompanied by a new V&A publication and a series of related events, courses and creative workshops.
X-ray photograph of evening dress, silk taffeta, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Paris, 1955. X-ray by Nick Veasey, 2016. © Nick Veasey
www.vam.ac.uk
Love Laurel x
