V&A membership: Pearls; Club to Catwalk

Today I had an interview at the Royal College of Music for my work placement at the beginning of 2014 so I will be working there for a few weeks along with a Bridal company based in Bristol so I'm super excited!
Whilst I was in Kensington I decided to go to the V&A for the last time in 2013 to abuse my membership as I'm going to the Isle of Wight tomorrow for Christmas and to work for a few weeks.

The V&A membership is fantastic, especially for students who live in London. The standard price is £64 which is still great value but if you are under 26, for £35 you get unlimited entry to all V&A exhibitions, a discount in the shop, the V&A magazine (I think it's seasonal) and access to the members room which is very exciting! I personally think it is such a good deal as you need to go to approximately 4 exhibitions to get your money's worth. My boyfriend got me mine as a gift last Christmas - such a great present!

Buy yours here.

Club to Catwalk
Today I went to the Club to Catwalk exhibition which is open until February 16th 2014 and a student ticket is £5 which I think is a good price for what it is. The exhibition shows London fashion from 1980s showcasing many innovative designers. I partly love going to exhibitions to learn about all the talented artists and designers out there and I personally think this is the best way to learn. Some of my favourite designers featured were: Chrissie Walsh, Michiko Koshino, Willy Brown, John Galliano, Anthony Prince, Zandra Rhodes, Pam Hogg and Georgina Godley.

John Galliano - The Lucid Game Collection

Georgina Godley - 1986
1987 Vogue: 'Stretch is fashion's dynamic force, a challenge for designer and wearer alike... It's the sexiest dressing yet, hiding the body and at the same time showing its every movement.'

Chrissie Walsh - inspired by the Ballet Russes

Willie Brown

Pearls
I also went to the Pearls exhibition which is on until January and is £7 for a student. I really enjoyed learning about the process behind harvesting natural pearls and how the beauty of them is that they are simply natural and need no further enhancements unlike any other jewel.

At university I study costume design and have been studying visual culture as well in my past term. So particularly when studying period costume I do a lot of looking at paintings and thinking about symbolism so I particularly liked learning about what the pearls symbolised in different centuries. For example, in medieval times they symbolised perfection and purity. In the 'Portrait of an unknown lady' (shown below) from 1595 the pearls symbolise fertility. In Victorian times Queen Victoria was described to be having a 'gladiatorial contest with jewels displayed as weapons.' and in 1861 she wore black mourning pearls upon Albert's death.

Portrait of an Unknown lady
1595

I didn't get around to seeing Masterpieces of Chinese paintings but that in open until January 19th so I intend to go in the new year. I am also very excited to see future exhibitions such as 'The Jameel Prize 3' (an art prize for contemporary artists inspired by Islamic traditions) which opens tomorrow and 'Wedding Dresses 1775 - 2014' which opens in May. I think once I do my placement at the Bridal company I will be even more excited for this one! Who doesn't love wedding dresses?!

Fashion and Science!

At London College of Fashion we are lucky enough to have an exhibition space which holds regular, free exhibitions based around global fashion, photography, and installation.
Currently the Fashion Space Gallery is holding an exhibition on glass in contemporary art: Glasstress: White Light | White Heat. It focusses on contemporary artists working in glass for the first time including Boudicca, Lucy and Jorge Orta, Hussein Chalayan, and Helen Storey.

Helen Storey- 'The Dress of Glass and Flame

 "The visible, gaseous part of a fire is caused by a highly exothermic reaction, taking place in a thin zone. Heat is so intense it excites the molecules enough to produce light."

Tim Noble and Sue Webster - Glass Narcissus

Koen Vanmechelen

This sort of work is the kind of work I love: exploring the boundaries with different materials. This work crosses somewhere in between fashion, art and science which makes art more like an experiment as opposed to something that is stereotypically appealing to the eye.

The exhibition is open until 23rd February 2014 located at London College of Fashion, John Prince's Street - just off of Oxford Street. Something you can just pop in to have a quick browse after doing a bit of shopping! As a student I feel very lucky to be able to pop into the exhibit in between lectures. Do go and have a look for yourselves!

Katie's Dress

My friend Katie and I collaborated together this summer to make a dress for her. Actually she was doing me a favour so I could practice dressmaking! I kind of felt like a fairy godmother though! I was quite pleased with the end result and she looks so beautiful in the photographs.

Designed and Modelled by: Katie Pearson

Made and Photographed by: Bryony Hamer

Hermes Exhibtion - Saatchi Gallery

A few days ago I was lucky enough to get to go to the Hermes exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery (part of the Festival des Metiers) with my friend Xiwen which was just fantastic.

That's something I absolutely love about living in London - just being able to pop over and see and exhibition. When living on the Isle of Wight my Mum was very good at organising days out in London involving some sort of gallery/museum and/or theatre. Although this was great, we'd have to plan weeks or months in advance so living in London means I have such a privilege of being able to wake up and think: I think I'll go to the Saatchi Gallery today! It's great!

Anyway, the exhibition was free (I still can't believe it!) but was unfortunately only on for a week so I can't urge you to go and see it but I took lots of photos!
It was a very interactive exhibition that gave the opportunity to witness the Hermes artisans crafting their famous masterpieces including the Hermes silk scarf, handbags, watches etc. They even talked through the process of what they were doing via a French-English translator which felt very authentic! It really gave me the chance to really appreciate the amount of time, precision, talent and patience that goes into each and every piece. I began to understand why they're so expensive.

Watch making

Holes are made in the gold then
the Diamonds are place on and
then wrapped in gold using
tweezers. No glue is used.

Diamonds - we were allowed to look through the telescope
and see how tiny and fiddly it looks!

Hand knitted jersey t-shirts

Hermes bags -
Demonstrating how to sew leather.

Hand sewing Hermes ties

Hermes Silk Scarves

The printing process -
Up to 46 (I think?) different printing screens
per colour can be used

Silk Screen Printing

Breaking down

The silk is scratched at with small tools to create a more
textured effect.

Fashion Museum - Bath

Last weekend I went to the Fashion Museum in Bath, formerly known as the Museum of Costume, which had a large collection of historic and contemporary fashion dating back to the 1500's!

In my opinion, the gallery is a nice size in the sense that there's enough there to feel you're not getting robbed for your money but there isn't too much there that you don't know where to look and end up feeling exhausted by the end of it.

It is divided in to a few parts which are separated by a section where all ages can try on Victorian costume including corsets, crinolines, dresses, bonnets and top hats and coats for men. I always find an interactive section really helps bring a gallery to life and keep the viewers interested, whatever age you are!

The gallery ends in a section of the Top Trends of up to date fashion of Spring/Summer 2013 - very impressive!


My only criticism would be that there isn't much on male fashion which suggests that the gallery in quite stereotypical in the sense that 'Fashion is for girls'. Boys wear clothes too!

I bought the book 'Fashion Museum - Treasures' which has detailed photographs of garments in the exhibition - a good alternative if you can't get to Bath. A used copy can be bought for as little as 46p (plus postage) on Amazon at the moment!