Amelia’s Magazine | Valentino: Master of Couture at Somerset House


Valentino A/W 2005 by Krister Selin

A recent viewing of the documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, a film dedicated to the infamous fashion editor’s pioneering feats, highlighted that going to a gallery to view exhibitions of living fashion designers is a relatively new concept. When Vreeland launched an Yves Saint Laurent retrospective in 1983 at the Costume Institute, she set a precedent for a legion of future fashion fairs.

In the modern era, fashion fans have no qualms about trading their hard-earned cash to gaze at frocks on mannequins and fashion retrospectives have dominated galleries with record-breaking visitor numbers. Presenting these exhibitions comes as a challenge to curators: no longer is it a case of whacking a few frocks on mannequins like you’re assembling a high street window display. A quick look at Viktor & Rolf at the Barbican, McQueen at the Met or Louis Vuitton/Marc Jacobs at Les Arts Decoratifs shows the dedication and commitment necessary to present fashion as art.


Valentino A/W 2002 and Natalia Vodianova by Cathleen Naundorf

What better way, then, to present Emperor of Couture Valentino Garavani‘s illustrious history than on one long catwalk? Avoid temptation to sashay past the tableaux as mannequins appear amongst elegant white chairs on either side of a runway, on which you’re the model. The Embankment Galleries at Somerset House have been transformed; no longer tiny catacombs, but brought together for dramatic effect.


Valentino A/W 2002 by Maya Beus

The lower floor showcases a number artefacts appearing in glass cabinets at the start of the exhibition. Letters from prominent designers and magazine editors celebrate Valentino‘s last milestone, his 45th anniversary as King of Couture, showering the Italian with praise for his record-breaking anniversary couture show at the Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome. Glorious fashion sketches line other cabinets, but as was with Margiela and other exhibitions here, I found myself skimming past these in order to get to the main event upstairs.


Photographs courtesy of Somerset House/Peter MacDiarmid

And so the catwalk comes alive on the upper level, with a breathtaking 130 haute couture creations on models appearing as guests. They are arranged pretty haphazardly amongst the aforementioned white chairs, almost with abandon, without any rigid chronological order. Empty seats bear the names of the great and the good that have worn Valentino and attended countless shows: Princess Margaret, Elizabeth Taylor, Carla Bruni, Diane Kruger, Iman; Diana Vreeland herself.


Valentino S/S 1998 by Annie Rickard Straus


Valentino A/W 1992 by Sandra Contreras

La dolce vita comes alive as you make your way along the displays, featuring floor-sweeping gowns, kaftans, trouser suits and capes. I particularly enjoyed the 1990s section – creations designed with the decadent abandon of an era when the supermodel ruled fashion and Valentino, Gianni Versace and pals were bending over backwards knee-deep in gold chains to appease them. These pieces were without doubt the height of fashion, but have dated the most. Compare these to some numbers from the 1960s: they’re indistinguishable from the output of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccoli, heading Valentino, over recent seasons.


Valentino S/S 2005 by Jamie Wignall


Valentino S/S 1969 by Maya Beus

The show’s dramatic finale sees Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece‘s wedding dress come to life on a dramatic platform. This pearl-encrusted ivory silk gown features a 4.5m train and 12 kinds of lace. Sure.


Princess Marie-Chantal’s wedding dress

While I wouldn’t wear it, it’s one of the greatest examples of dressmaking in history and this presentation allows you to see the astonishing detail in the flesh.


Valentino S/S 2004 by Krister Selin

I particularly enjoyed a personal tribute to le regazze – the girls – the loyal atelier that have produced innumerable tulles, mock-ups and eventual red-carpet-ready frocks for the Grand Master’s enormous following. They’re the stars of groundbreaking documentary film Valentino: The Last Emperor, bickering as they lovingly stitch the last couture collection by the man himself. In the exhibition we’re spoiled with an education of Italian atelier terms – such beauties as ‘Incrostazioni‘ ‘Drappeggio‘ and ‘Budellini‘, a couture technique specific to Valentino where double charmeuse silk is rolled and sewn around a looped length of wool. Each term has a visual representation, occupying a glass box and highlighting the important role that these individual processes have played in Valentino‘s roaring success.


Valentino A/W 2002 by Jamie Wignall


Valentino S/S 1998 by Sandra Contreras

Unmissable. Go.

Categories ,Annie Rickard Straus, ,Budellini, ,catwalk, ,couture, ,Drappeggio, ,Embankment Galleries, ,emperor, ,exhibition, ,fashion, ,Grand Master, ,Incrostazioni, ,Italy, ,Jamie Wignall, ,Krister Selin, ,le regazze, ,london, ,Marie-Chantal, ,Matt Bramford, ,Maya Beus, ,Natalia Vodianova, ,Peter MacDiarmid, ,Rome, ,runway, ,Sandra Contreras, ,Somerset House, ,The Last Emperor, ,Valentino Garavani

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Amelia’s Magazine | The 2012 Inaugural Lush Prize Awards Dinner: £250,000 towards the end of Animal Testing

Anti Animal Testing By James McCourt
Anti Animal Testing by James McCourt.

On Thursday 15th November Lush held their inaugural Lush Prize at a warehouse venue in the heart of Shoreditch, and I was there. During the afternoon Mothers Meeting invited us to a tea party for kids, complete with luscious cakes by Lily Vanilli for the mummies and plates of healthy snack food for the kiddies.

lush prize lily vanilli November
Snarfle Lush prize mothers meeting party November 2012
Snarfle Lush prize mothers meeting party November 2012
The older ones were invited to make brilliant animal masks with Margot Bowman in celebration of the Lush #animalperson campaign, whilst our wee ones babbled at each other and noshed on each other’s heads.

Lush Prize awards November 2012-
Then it was home to put Snarfle to bed before heading out once more for the prize giving dinner, a delicious vegan affair catered for by Tom’s Feast, and made entirely out of food that would otherwise go to waste.

Tom's Feast Lush Prize November 2012-
Tom's Feast Lush Prize November 2012-
Tom's Feast Lush Prize November 2012-
I particularly enjoyed a bright green foraged salad, complete with pineapple weed… aka wild chamomile. Take a look at Tom’s blog if you really want to make your mouth water.

Rowena Bird, Kelly Lush Prize November
By a stroke of luck I happened to sit next to the gorgeous Rowena Bird, co-founder of Lush, who we interviewed many a moon ago for the print version of Amelia’s Magazine. We talked about her new make up range for Lush, Emotional Brilliance, which is based on colour psychology: spin the wheel and find out what colours jump out at you. I also met an inspiring lady with an intriguing project, Lucy Gilliam and the New Dawn Traders. Her mission? To get tall ships back on the seas to transport large cargos in carbon free style. What an amazing idea and one I’d never thought about – apparently the technology is there and now it’s all about the will (as ever with these things). Also at my table was the film maker responsible for the viral ad campaign designed to promote the Lush Prize, Josef Valentino. Watch it here.

YouTube Preview Image
The space was conceived as a high tech homage to forward thinking science by Something & Son and Inition, and each table featured an iPad with which to view specially designed cards placed on our plates – through these we experienced augmented reality, as the chaotic graphic patterns took shape to make hearts, feet and lungs. Using fingers we were able to dismantle these, as if performing our very own human vivisections.

Inition augmented reality lush prize November 2012
The Lush Prize is a dauntingly ambitious project designed to highlight the ongoing use of animals in cosmetics testing, with a total prize fund of £250,000. It aims to promote and support all the exciting new developments which will hopefully rid our world of this outdated mode of experimentation. As Lush says ‘In a parallel universe not very far away, some of the world’s leading scientists and engineers are working towards a future where computers and molecular biology have replaced animals in laboratory tests.We reported on the new REACH act (which makes extensive animal testing mandatory by law) way back in 2009 but sadly this is a battle which still needs to be fought: thank god Lush have stepped back in to bring the spotlight back on animal testing.

Animals Against Testing by Annie Rickard Straus
Animals Against Testing by Annie Rickard Straus.

Perhaps even more worrying are the Chinese regulations which require researchers to retest every single product that arrives from the West. I was really disgusted to learn that several well known brands have removed their Against Animal Testing logos since entering the Chinese market. All for the sake of profit. Naturally Lush is boycotting China at present.

Lush Prize boxing hare
“Ask experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘because they are like us.’ Ask experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘because the animals are not like us.’ Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.” Charles R. Nagel.

lush-prize-winners-2012
But back to the Lush Prize – the winners had travelled from all over the world to receive one half of a boxing bronze hare (created by ceramist Nichola Theakston) and a large amount of cash, designed to aid them in their work putting an end to unnecessary animal testing. Prizes were awarded for Science, Training, Lobbying, Public Awareness and to post doctoral students. The recipients included Hiromi Kamekura from the Japan Anti-Vivisecton Association, which has been doggedly raising awareness of animal testing by cosmetics giant Shiseido. Winners also came from India, Italy, the USA, Canada and Russia, for this is a truly global fight. It’s brilliant that Mark and Mo Constantine of Lush are so passionate about the things they care about, regularly stumping up cash to help others create the better world they strive and wish for. If only wish more companies were as bold and principled in their decisions.

lush-prize
For a far more detailed analysis of the science behind the awards visit Lucy’s in depth blog here. A full list of the prize winners can be found here. It’s well worth revisiting our analysis of REACH too. I’m not a great one for endorsing petitions as I am not convinced they work, but there are quite a few out there against animal testing: you could lend your signature to this one. And finally, check out the Fighting Animal Testing website.

Categories ,#animalperson, ,Animal Testing, ,Annie Rickard Straus, ,Augmented Reality, ,Boxing Hare, ,Charles R. Nagel, ,China, ,Emotional Brilliance, ,Fighting Animal Testing, ,Foraged, ,Hiromi Kamekura, ,Inition, ,ipad, ,James McCourt, ,Japan Anti-Vivisecton Association, ,Lily Vanilli, ,Lobbying, ,Lucy and the New Dawn Traders, ,Lucy Gilliam, ,lush, ,Lush Prize, ,Margot Bowman, ,Mark Constantine, ,Mo Constantine, ,Mothers Meeting, ,Nichola Theakston, ,Pineapple weed, ,Post Doctoral Students, ,Public Awareness, ,R.E.A.C.H., ,reach, ,Rowena Bird, ,science, ,Shiseido, ,shoreditch, ,Snarfle, ,Something & Son, ,Tom’s Feast, ,training, ,vegan, ,Vivisection, ,Waste Food, ,£250000

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