Vivienne Westwood

We finally went to see the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Millennium Gallery at the weekend.

The sheer range of clothing on display was amazing. I wasn’t surprised to encounter mini-crinis, but I had forgotten all about the pirate collection. There were designs that were inspired by royal influences, tailored suits, ripped fabrics and some fabulous confections made from yards and yards of ruched and folded fabric and feathers. There were examples of some of Vivienne’s best-known (and now classic) designs from the punk era alongside designs I’d never seen before.

The clothes were all amazing, although many would provide rather challenging attire for those of us engaged in everyday life.

Here’s a few favourites:

The Pirate Collection (Say “Arrrrrh”)

This reminds me of those wonderful floppy frilly shirts and big jackets that I wore in the early 80s. Not that mine were made by a famous designer. (Mine were made by me!)

If I were a real princess…

Yards of fabric and an enormous train of feathers. Perhaps not one for a trip to the supermarket, but stunningly gorgeous.

I discover my inner fetishist:

I fall in love with a snappily tailored suit. I look closer trying to work out what it is made from. It’s rubber. Ooh err.

I briefly ponder the implications of this, but ultimately decide that this rubber suit is in fact my favourite from the whole exhibition. Very ooh err.

If you are interested, the rest of my photos are here.

The exhibition is open daily until September 21st and, according to the gallery’s website, this is the only chance to see it in the UK. However, a lot of the clothes are from the V & A‘s collections, so I suspect that many of them will make a reapparence in London at some point.