Africa Fashion

Anna Wintour said hello to me the other day (what a great way to start a piece!). She was visiting the V&A to visit Africa Fashion and that reminded me that I’d taken a whole selection of images and not got round to posting them. I am going to let the images mostly speak for…

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear

‘In a patriarchal society, masculine gender identity is often moulded by violently toxic stereotypes […] Any possible reference to femininity is aggressively banned, as it is considered a threat against the complete affirmation of a masculine prototype that allows no divergencies. There is nothing natural in this drift.’ Alessandro Michelle, Creative director, Gucci. This year’s…

Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk

With most of the country heading towards total lockdown and the V&A currently closed, now seems the perfect time to virtually escort you round the wonder that is ‘Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk‘. A traditional unisex and utilitarian garment, literally meaning ‘thing to wear’, the kimono has over the past four centuries become synonymous with Japan…

Mary Quant

It’s rare in fashion for a designer to be so associated with a certain garment or period of time, but in popular culture Many Quant is inextricably linked to both the miniskirt and the Sixties. Along with Carnaby Street, The Beatles and Vidal Sassoon, Quant’s name brings to mind the moment when London became the…

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams‘ opens this weekend and it is a brilliant exhibition, one that impresses with its scope and a design that proves to be the perfect setting for the Haute Couture extravaganza. The ultimate Dior collection. This is a new version of the exhibition which drew over 700,000 visitors to the Musée des Arts…

From Garbo to Gaga – the art of Alaïa

I haven’t visited the Design Museum since they moved to the old Commonwealth Institute at the far end of Kensington High Street. I loved the Butler’s Wharf building. I’d seen many shows there over the years as I lived down the road from it for 6 months, sleeping on a friend’s floor when I first…

Fashioned From Nature

Fashioned from Nature, the V&A’s new show is a comprehensive look at the influence nature has had on fashion and the impact that fashion in turn has on the environment. Awareness of the detrimental effects modern life is having on the planet has increased significantly over the past few decades and this exhibition doesn’t shy…

Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion

I didn’t know a great deal about Cristóbal Balenciaga and his work before I visited the Victoria and Albert’s acclaimed exhibition. Of course I knew the name but I was unaware of the vast influence his exquisite craftsmanship and innovative designs have had on fashion. Whilst not on the scale of the Alexander McQueen blockbuster, ‘Savage Beauty’ the…

Street Dance

So I must apologise for the ‘radio silence’ here at moderneccentrics. It’s been a very hectic month and we’re not out of the woods yet but here’s one of the things we’ve been up to. In preparation for a submission for the Wearable Expressions Show in California, we asked the dancer Maya Williams to come over for…

Speed of Light – Terence Donovan

Beginnings and endings, it’s funny how often they affect the way we think about what goes on in the middle. Very often though they have little relevance to what goes in-between. ‘Speed of Light’ is the first major retrospective of the work of Terence Donovan (though there was a show of his work ‘The Eye…

Looking Forward No4 – The Catwalk Show

‘Waterloo Bridge, Grey Weather – a collaborative project. Leaves on the river surface, rust in the water, floating downstream… copper chains halting the drift, ‘eucalyptus’ clasps hold and reflect the natural dying process.’ Program Notes This is not fashion – this is a garment, constructed from natural hand dyed eco-printed silk, held and shaped to…

MISSONI ART COLOUR at the Fashion and Textile Museum

Prepare yourself for an overload of shades, tones and colours – the spectrum is almost infinite, and the experience is breathtaking. The Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey and the MA*GA Art Museum, Gallarate, have collaborated to produce this overview of the work of Missoni, the Italian family firm founded in 1953, and famous for…