A Day In London

So, we have just had half term here and my family decided to take a day trip to London to visit the poppies at The Tower Of London (representing the thousands that were killed in World War One). They were beautiful and such a breathtaking sight to see so many ceramic, hand made poppies covering the grounds of The Tower Of London.

But that's not what I came to blog about. I managed to persuade my parents to take me to the V&A Museum of Art and Design because of the fashion exhibitions there I'd always wanted to go to. Let's just say it certainly didn't disappoint my expectations! But, before I give you a tour of the museum from the photos I took, here's a look into what I wore...

I actually really liked my outfit as it was not only reasonably stylish and matching, but that shawl is the softest and comfiest thing you will ever come across! So here goes:

• Shawl - Matalan (surprisingly!), £10
• Black Shirt/Blouse/Tshirt - Oxfam, £5
• Jeans - Primark, £8
• Loafers - New Look, £15
• Necklace - Forever 21, it was a gift         

 So I hope that from that list you get the idea that the clothes I wear are nothing fancy and extremely affordable for all (total outfit cost just roughly £40!). However I hope you think that from seeing this it proves you don't have to spend hundreds on clothes to feel confident or make an outfit work. I think that for me, the tip for sensible shopping is that before you buy something thing carefully about what you have at home that it would look super cute with so that you're constantly making possible outfits up in your head and so everything you buy will get worn and will fit nicely into your wardrobe.

Now for the exciting part. We visited the Fashion section of the museum and I'll now talk you through fashion through the ages. I will hopefully give you a real life tour of the the museum as if you're visiting it yourself! (I took photos of the parts that interested me the most so there may be parts there I haven't spoken about here that's why it may miss out certain decades) ENJOY

"Spanning four centuries, the V&A’s Fashion collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of dress in the world. Key items in the collection include rare 17th-century gowns, 18th-century ‘mantua’ dresses, 1930s eveningwear, 1960s daywear and post-war couture. Plus a growing number of pieces from 21st-century designers." - V&A website 

So, we begin in 1755 with this huge dress! (This is the back of the dress by the way.) I like the moon-like patterns and the stars making it clear it was made to be worn during the evening on a night out. I'm not too keen on the colours - it reminds me of porridge. But, I do like the dress to the top right, the colours are very 2014 - black white and grey! And it's nothing too frilly or over the top - like the one on the right!

Now for casual wear at home in 1830. Again, the clothes in this era don't exactly excite me, but I have to add them in to show the progress fashion has made since then.

I actually love these! The top bodice is from France 1865 and is stunning, it has a real Japanese kimono feel yet it's only a french bodice! The bottom two pieces are from Paris in 1889. On the left is the arctic fox fur coat which would never fail to keep you warm I'm pretty sure. You could be naked underneath that coat and still be the perfect temperature to face a Parisian winter! Then on the right is a beautiful silk chiffon bodice with velvet ribbon which is totally glamorous and I kinda wish was the fashion now - I'd have one in every colour!

 Now for one of my favourite items at the museum: the beautiful evening coat on the left by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1890. The roses at the top combined with the faces and the blushing lips along the back of the coat are just so original and romantic, i love it! The silk chiffon dress on the right is also gorgeously elegant and beautiful and those shoes at the bottom by Jack Jacobus in 1930 were worn by the Queen Mother herself! 

After seeing that beautiful bodice from 1865 i was quite disappointed when I go to the era of  the kimono, they were so boring and no where near as exciting as that wonderful French one! But still in 1905, in Japan, kimonos became a growing trend. I like the one on the right, it's so heavily patterned and pretty, I think it wouldn't take much to get attention whilst wearing it. Joseph's technicolour dream-coat (not actually, I'm joking) at the back is also white interesting, but if it was me, I'd wanna wear it inside out to show of that rainbow! 

 This part of the exhibition was named "The Modern Woman" and presented items from 1925-1940. The first two from the left are bathing costumes and what I found interesting when looking at them was that I've seen those shapes (the high waisted short with a bikini like top) recently, showing that we really do just recycle styles from other eras over and over. The colours of these bathing suits were also popular this summer. However I'n not sure I can say the same thing about the beach suit on the right, I don't think we will ever go to the beach and say "oooh I love their beach suit" it would be more like "..ridiculously short shorts and crop top" but still, I have to say I love the stripes and just the idea that this was worn to the beach really.

To the right is a Vogue magazine from US 1927 and its clear that the covers of magazines have changed a bit since then.


This beauty on the left is a Coco Chanel evening trouser suit from 1937. I think it's amazing, covered in sequins and sparkling in the light with lace all down the front, I can see it being very comfortable and a suit you found yourselves dancing in all night long in 1937!

Now for the "post war couture" part of the introduction. So as you can see from the photo on the right, the womens style in the 1940s was very formal with suit jackets or blazers with long skirts, brooches were also very prominent at this time. In the outfit on the right that gas mask bag is made from reptile skin - just a fun fact! And yes, to the left we have another look into the progression of the covers of Vogue magazine, these are both from 1949.

Now for the 1960s when haute couture became more significant in the world, this photo is of a Christian Dior presentation showing the different layers of a garment.  

This was the "Revolution" presentation from the 60s in London. It's almost as if they just discovered colour in this age and the mixing of different clashing colours within one piece, I mean look at that dress on the left and those ties! I absolutely adore this era and that dress in the middle is so cute! 

Now we shall venture into the 1970's and I have one word: flares. The clothes at the front are quite tribal and very flowing, with colour schemes the complete opposite to those found in the previous decade. However, as soon as I saw this presentation my eyes were instantly drawn to the shirts in the back from Ossie Clark in the 80's, I must admit I own a shirt similar to those, as I love the vintage feel and pattern of those thin blouse like material shirts.

So this was from the exhibit called "Radical Fashion" from the 1990s. From seeing this it's like you can't pinpoint an exact look to this decade because everyone experimented style-wise and there was no iconic trend that people would immediately identify with the 90s like there was with the floaty clothes from the 70s and the bright, colourful clothes from the 60s. (I wouldn't know for sure of course because I was only there for about 13 months of this decade!) When I saw this exhibit I was drawn to the fashion illustration on the back wall, because I have an interest in these and have tried to create some myself. I then looked into the information said about that illustration and found that it was actually by the one and only Karl Largerfeld for Chanel in 2009!

So, were now getting quite recent in the museum and I found many of the things in the 00s to 2014 really interesting because well quite honestly I'm not a big fan of history so I like recent things and seeing popular modern designers work right there in front of me was amazing. These shoes were just wow, works of art but I'm not sure if I'm totally feeling them, by Meadham Kirchhoff in 2012, I think its the yellow fluff that took them too far!
These shoes were made to be worn with that unique outfit shown there on the right. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo or not but the dress had like a people paper chain feel to it all around and it was actually quite cool really. I think that the concept is genius and if there was a top made like that I may actually wear it. Overall I actually really loved that outfit combined with the cute thigh highs, but then put it with the shoes and just oh dear.
This interesting coat was from Alexander McQueen! I couldn't believe the museum had clothes from such famous designers! Anyway so this coat, I'm not overly keen on the whole religious vibe going on but I do like how original it is and well I don't think anyone will have seen anything quite like that in Primark or Topshop to be honest, which is what fashion is all about - stepping outside the ordinary!


So, there we have it! A tour of the fashion shown in the Victoria and Albert museum, hopefully we got a sense of how constantly changing fashion is and also how much style has changed over time! I personally thought it was the most interesting thing I ever saw so I hope you enjoyed it too. But, there was one exhibit there which showed one trend across most of the time the V&A looked at: TSHIRTS! I can never quite see Tshirts going out of fashion to be honest and its something you can literally put anything onto and then make it wearable and fashionable.




So here it is, a selection of the kinds of Tshirts worn ageing from left to right from 1913-2014. Band Tshirts and memorabilia was certainly a big thing for the 80s section of the museum. I liked this exhibit because it shows how fashion across  a hundred years can be linked but still changing, if that makes sense!

Okay, I'm finished now I promise! Its funny because in my last post I apologised for how short the post was but now I think it's appropriate to do the opposite! But well I did explain in detail fashion from the 1700s to today so it was never gonna be a short one. I hope you enjoyed my post and I strongly advise you go to the V&A asap - an amazing experience I loved!

(:Thanks For Reading:)