80's Exhibition Write up

My Visit to the V and A museum

Abbie Huffinley

For my third brief, I have to create a mini magazine in the style of a 1980’s theme. I visited the V and A Museum in London for primary research. I looked round an 80’s themed fashion exhibition,  ‘club To Catwalk’.

When I first walked in, I was excited as there was 80’s style music playing in the background in all the different culture sections, and there were bright, aluminous lights to create a disco mood. 

There were a range of Sub Cultures throughout the exhibition. I looked at:

·      Evening Wear

·      Blitz Denim

·      Knit Wear

·      Hard Times

·      Customized

·      Rave

·      Body conscious and

·      Goth

My favourite culture was Evening Wear because it looked sophisticated, glitzy and modern.

Designer John Galliano designed an evening dress that was placed in another culture section, however I loved the design as I would wear it today, in the 21^st Century.  He designed a long, baby pink evening dress. Taken from the ‘fallen Angels’ Collection for spring/summer 1986, the dress would flow in a summer breeze, drifting and gliding around the body that was wearing it.  It was very girly, therefore portraying a certain characteristic, like part of a story.

I looked further into Galliano's designs, how they have differed from the 1980's up to today. I found an image of  one of Galliano's designs for the Paris Fashion Week in september earlier this year. The information that I researched came from: http://www.hungertv.com/feature/paris-fashion-week-john-galliano/#slideshow-7. 

Galliano's dress that was used in the Fashion Week is vibrant and funky, which is different to the 80's style design that he designed, which I saw at the exhibition. They are both designs for the spring term, which shows how differently people dress in the 21st Century. The 2013 design is much shorter than the 80's design, which shows that Galliano has incorporated the 80's style into todays society. I love both dresses, as they 80's style is relaxing, but very funky in terms of the materials used and how they are layered over each other. The second dress, designed for 2013, is funky in terms of the colours used, creating an 80's feel and a spring/summer look. 

 My favourite designers were Helen Storey, Jasper Conran and Vivienne Westwood, because they were so different from each other and very original. Helen Storey’s designs were mainly short, black, elegant and glitzy. Jasper Conran’s dress was was long, black, glitzy and sophisticated. Both designers use simple designs, using luxurious materials, creating elegant evening dresses. Vivienne Westwood’s designs were funky and use various materials, then placing them together to create a patchwork of crazy outfits. I also found a variety of her designs intriguing as some were mad, however many simple designs really caught my eye as they were created round the body’s curves, making the shape look effective.

I researched further into Westwood’s designs on a variety of websites. I also found research on Westwood at the exhibition. ‘Vivienne Westwood created increasingly eclectic, wider range of designs from classical/pagan cultured to hobo dress and modern art. Westwood reworked fashion traditions and layered her designs with cultural references in a completely unique way. She introduced new materials and a different approach to cut and construct’. She designed many of her designs with partner Malcolm McLaren.

I have taken this image from www.complex.com, a website looking at 80's style clothes and designers. 'These designs were designed by Vivienne Westwood, as she really pushed the punk style forward. Part of a design movement called "New Romanticism", she frequently collaborated with with Sex Pistols manager in the 80's'. The information was collected from complex.com. I feel that her designs are very wacky, which suited the types of clubs that that people went to. Depending on the style of clothes they were into and how mad the designs were, the more they fitted into the clubs and they music genres. 

The ambience and feeling in and around the fashion exhibition was very fun, giving me a taste of the 80’s. When walking through the clubs and videos area, I found that the atmosphere in the clubs were fun, exotic, with bright lights, lasers and loud 80’s style music playing in the background. This made me feel upbeat and in the mood to party and dance in the cheesy 80’s style.

I watched a video of all the designers outfits shown on a catwalk. The models were very different from the 21^st Century, dancing around to cheesy music in the background. However, there was a bubbly, fun atmosphere, making the outfits seem more crazy and individual. I feel that the models of the 80’s were real models; however they idolized and became good friends with the designers, therefore they created a more uplifting, fun show. This made the designs look more attractive as they models are having a fun time showing them off.