Saturday 19 January 2013

A day with Valentino - a review of the exhibition

The only tickets available for the Valentino exhibition today were the 10-12:00hrs slot, so we went for it and boy I was glad I did.



The snow meant that Somerset House wasn't heaving with people today, so we were able to mooch around the expo admiring the workmanship of the beautiful clothes without being pushed and shoved from piller to post, which it was like when I went to see the Grace Kelly exhibition.




For those of you who are not able to get to see this fabulous exhibition, I recommend that you go on the Valentino Garavani website and download the free 3D software to get a 360 view of what we saw today.  There is also a great video of behind the scenes access to the Valentino atelier (workshop or studio often used by a designer), which I stood and watched for ages, as they demonstrated various hand sewing techniques to create some of the effects in these ornate garments.

Anyone who sews will be in awe of the painstaking detail of these  couture dresses, two dresses in particular highlighted was the black and white dress worn by Julia Roberts as she collected her Oscar in 2001 and Jackie Onassis’s wedding dress from 1968Its amazing that these intricate gowns/costumes are diligently sewn by hand, apparently taking hours and sometimes days to complete.

There was a great display case with a number of drawings and sketches of his designs,  some with colour swatches attached to them. In another area, were many letters including one from Jackie Onassis, members of the Royal family, along with many other famous names.  FYI the sketches are also shown on the website I gave the link to above.

Our guidebook handed to us as we entered the first chamber had details about each dress, together with little glossary of terms so people would know what they were referring to.



My D Mike bought me a copy of the book you see above, on sale in the ubiquitous gift shop, which of course you have walk through in order to exit the exhibition.  This is a lovely memento of a lovely day together.

My head is spinning with ideas now, and I want to do it all!!!!!!

If you are in London, and you have an hour or so to spare, then book your tickets, its well worth the £12.50 entrance fee.

Catch you later.................




9 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that you didn't let the snow stop you!

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  2. Oh, lucky girl! thanks so much for the link, what a treat.

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  3. Sounds like you had a great time - thanks for the links!

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  4. lucky you,any chance to see couture garments is a real treat and inspireration to people who sew,

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  5. A little envious here too. Great day out and that on such a cold day. Looking forward to what you will do with all inpiration. Thanks for the links as well.

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  6. Oh this sounds divine. I really envy you! Thanks for the link!

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  7. What a great day out! Oh how much I would love to visit this exhibition :)

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  8. Thanks for your comments - hope the links worked for you they are a great substitute for the show if you can't get there.

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