Six mummies, six babies and six buggies (and NO lift, thanks V&A) finally made it to Fashion-ology – the V&A exhibit on Anna Piaggi, the legendary writer for Vogue Italia and designers’ friend and muse.
The exhibition was interesting but ultimately slightly disappointing – too many display cabinets showing back copies of Vogue and not enough of her fabulously eccentric clothes. I must confess that I also didn’t really know enough about her to understand exactly what I was seeing at the time – now that I’ve had a chance to read the excellent mini-catalogue, I’d like to go back and see the exhibit again.
To me there was also an element of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ about it all. It can’t be denied that her clothes, while undeniably striking, eccentric and most beautifully made, are often completely ridiculous. Still it must be nice to be able to just phone up one of your designer friends, tell them that you want to look like a magazine or such like and have them run up a little number for you.
We also applauded the fact that Anna checks out the location of a soiree or reception ahead of time, to ensure that her costume is appropriate.
I actually much preferred the second fashion exhibit currently on at the V&A – Popaganda: The Fashion and Style of Jean Charles de Castelbajac . This was much more about the clothes, cabinets full of crazy, experimental, humorous Pop Art clothes, which, with the benefit of hindsight, one could tell had been both hugely influential on recent fashion trends and occasionally looked surprisingly wearable.
I loved the iconic fur coat made of teddy bears, the ‘Tribute to Jimi Hendrix’ mini dress with afro hair tutu and the parachute ballgown, though I must confess to having a soft spot for de Castelbajac ever since someone gave me his perfume when I lived in France twenty years ago, which I wore all the time until I ran out and couldn’t find it in England.
Interestingly the Minx was also completely captivated – though I think mostly by the accompanying pounding music and the great lighting. She did however stare long and hard at this outfit before looking away rather bewildered. Surrealism is clearly wasted on the young.
We repaired afterwards to Patisserie Valerie on the Brompton Road, which was VERY child-friendly, with handsome waiters for the Minx to flirt with and the best ‘pain au raisin’ this side of of the Channel and agreed that our cultural afternoon had been a roaring success.
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