emmalouisesalter: V&A

V&A

Posted by Unknown On 22:58

So if you follow me on twitter (@emma_salter) or instagram (@emmasalterr) you'll know I went to London last thursday for a university trip to see the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A.

The V&A's autumn exhibition, 'Hollywood Costume', explores the central role costume design plays in cinema storytelling. Bringing together over 100 of the most iconic movie costumes from across a century of film-making, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the clothes worn by unforgettable and beloved characters such as Dorothy Gale, Indiana Jones, Scarlett O'Hara, Jack Sparrow, Holly Golightly and Darth Vader.

It's still on at the moment too if you are a film or costume lover I would definitely recommend you get down and see it! I would even say it was the best exhibition I have seen at the V&A and I've been going to at least one once a year for the last 4 years!

'Clothes are never a frivolity, they always mean something' James Laver (1899–1975)

I was really impressed with the length of the exhibition, using one of the larger rooms at the V&A the exhibition was vast in it's production, the interior was like that of a backstage pass into a hollywood film festival, the lighting was dark and casting lights projected the room with large screens communicating film clips and quotes from the films the costumes that were displayed were from. What I enjoyed the most was the innovative way of making the costumes feel alive, they were on headless mannequins but used a hologram screen with a moving image of the celebrity who wore the costume so you really got the feel that they were there! The exhibition was sponsored by Harry Winston, who has for more than seventy years been an integral part of Hollywood's glamorous history, 'the original jeweller to the stars' who continues to define the ultimate in fine jewellery and high-end watchmaking and this truly reflected in the classiness of the exhibition.

I learnt that Costume designers are storytellers, historians, social commentators and anthropologists. Movies are about people, and costume design plays a pivotal role in bringing these people to life. 'Hollywood Costume' illuminates the costume designer’s process in the creation of character from script to screen including the changing social and technological context in which they have worked over the last century.

This ground-breaking exhibition includes over 100 of the most iconic and unforgettable film characters from a century of Hollywood filmmaking, 1912–2012. 'Hollywood Costume' takes us on a three-gallery journey from Charlie Chaplin through the Golden Age of Hollywood to the cutting-edge design for 'Avatar (2009, Costume Designer Mayes C Rubeo, Deborah L Scott) and 'John Carter of Mars' (2012, Costume Designer Mayes C Rubeo): Act 1, Deconstruction, puts us in the shoes of the costume designer and illuminates the process of designing a character from script to screen; Act 2, Dialogue, examines the key collaborative role of the costume designer within the creative team; Act 3, Finale, celebrates the most beloved characters in the history of Hollywood and the ‘silver screen’.

The galleries were filled with cinema costumes that have never left the private and archival collections in California. Most of these clothes have never been publicly displayed and have never been seen beyond the secure walls of the studio archives. I feel quite privelleged to say I have been stood less than a metre away from Marilyn Monroe's original white dress.

Visitors weren't allowed to take photo's inside the exhibition so these pictures have been taken from the V&A website and are not my own.

I've always wanted Kate Hudson's dress from How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days and to see it in the flesh (or material) was a dream come true! Many more amazing costumes above too including Borat, Reece Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, John Travolta and Austin Powers.