The place to go for the most fashion with the least strain to the pocketbook is the wonderful Victoria & Albert Museum. Some of the best exhibits I have seen in recent years have been there. Last year's exhibit on Modernism was truly amazing, and a great example of the amount of thought and work that go into curating one of their exhibits.
Aside from their permanent fasion gallery (a nice-sized although poorly lit room with a good range of displays from may eras), this season the featured exhibit is "The Golden Age of Couture", showcasing fashion from Paris and London from the 40's and 50's. Nowhere but here has it been more evident to me that I was born in the wrong generation, with the wrong social status. The couture creations are breathtaking, from the tiny wasp-waists of Dior to the meticulous tailoring of Balenciaga, to the lavishly detailed Balmain. Scattered throughout the exhibit are videos, large and small, of couture fashion shows, so that you are able to see the real magesty of the garments by their fit on the body. And then you are permitted to get up close (well, close enough) and see the tiny stitches, beadwork, and lustre of the fabrics, from duchesse satin to wool to drapy sheer silk. It is enough to make you want to chuck out your entire mass-produced wardrobe and save up to buy only couture, one outfit at a time. The middle third of the exhibit focuses on fashion sketching and photography, which I adore as much as I do the clothes. The theatricality of pale skin, blood-red lips, a black dress and a perfectly shaped hat cannot be matched. It was one of the few times in fashion that illustration and photography have been so much in sync.
After a giddy hour and a half with couture, I then spent another hour walking through the adjoining exhibit, "The Art of Lee Miller". She has always fascinated me, both as a person and for her photography. This exhibit does a nice job of pulling together the fragments of her multi-faceted life. It shows her modeling days and early years as Man Ray's muse and lover, and then moves into her world travels and photojournalism. The famous photograph of her in Hitler's bathtub is striking, as are the ones of post-Blitz London. In the end she married for a third time, and enjoyed a rural farm life, filled with famous visitors that she put to work. What a life to have led - hard to imagine one of today's fashion models moving so far beyond the runway.
One day I am going to have to take some time to explore the Asian art, silver galleries, and portraits in this enormous museum. But as long as they keep having great exhibits like these, the permanent collections may just have to wait.
