London Blogs - Tim Walker: Wonderful Things at V&A

So when researching my trip to London this was an exhibition that I wasn't that bothered about seeing but I am so glad that I visited. It was amazing and totally not what I expected! I am a massive Alice in Wonderland fan and when entering through the doors I felt that I had fallen down the rabbit hole. Tim Walker: Wonderful Things is running until 22nd March, 2020.

Out of the three exhibitions that I visited at the V&A this was definitely the largest and held my attention for the longest. As an art history student you are always told that you only really see something at a gallery for the first 20 minutes and then your mind is bombarded with information. This was not the case with this exhibition, it is a site-specific installation that is comprised of films, photographs, set design and massive props. It's really hard to know where to look next! Walker had access to the V&A collection when curating this exhibition and he uses his artwork to show his reactions to his favourite items from the collection. 

I think the best way to describe this exhibition is with photographs...

So what are you waiting for? Get to the V&A and take a trip down the surreal rabbit hole..

London Blogs - Mary Quant at the V&A

So I haven't posted anything a while due to being crazy busy with research for my PhD proposal. I thought I would write a quick blog about the Mary Quant exhibition I visited at the V&A in January, which is open until 16th February 2020.

The exhibition explores the career of Mary Quant from 1955 with the establishment of her experimental boutique, Bazaar through to the invasion of the high street in the 1960s and 1970s. As you can imagine the exhibition's central focus is the fashion, with added insight into the lives of some of the people who bought and wore the outfits. This made the exhibition more personable and added to the idea that this was affordable fashion for its time. The number of outfits on display was amazing, spreading over two floors. To tie the exhibition together with the text and objects there were several screens showing film archive footage, adverts and interviews.

Unfortunately due to being such a popular exhibition it was very crowded, especially downstairs as there was no clear path to follow to view the exhibit in order. I feel that it would have benefited from a larger space, especially after I had just seen the Car's exhibit which was really spacious. As a result of the crowding I was unable to get many pictures for the blog.

The highlight of this exhibition for me was the doll range. I had no idea that Mary Quant had created her own doll that had the same fashions as its real-life counterpart. Upstairs the doll is integrated next to outfits and has its own section with some of the other products that were available. It was very sophisticated compared to Barbie and Sindy. I also loved the section on socks, they were so amazing, sparkly and patterned. I would love a pair of the over the knee socks that were on display but had to settle for the ankle socks I bought in the museum shop. Another funky addition was the make-up. Quant didn't just settle for making innovations in make-up for women, she diversified into men's make-up to capitalise on the new Glam Rock market.

Sadly I've written this late but if you want to see the exhibition it is on display until 16th February 2020 (next Sunday). Its worth just looking at the shop if you are visiting the V&A #WeWantQuant