Tim Walker: Wonderful Things

On Saturday I was transformed to the wonderful world of Tim Walker at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Tim is one of the world's leading fashion photographers and has photographed for Vogue for over a decade now, using extravagant staging and romantic motifs to characterise his style. This extensive exhibition is called Wonderful Things and shows his extraordinary creative process and explains some of the thoughts behind the images. The exhibition includes pictures, films, photographic sets and special installations.

The first room shows a rather conventional retrospective of his work, showing images of models used for Vogue as well as portraits of famous actors and musicians.

Margot Robbie

Nicole Kidman

Joanna Lumley

The V&A asked Walker to to explore their archives and select 10 items that excited him and then create photographic projects based on those items. The rest of the exhibition uses room sets, created by Shona Heath, that make you feel like you've stumbled into one of Walker's photographs.

Tim has always been seduced by the inky blackness and sexual confidence of Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations, and the museum houses hundreds of Beardsley's prints. This image, titled The Peacock Skirt, was one of Beardsley's illustrations for Oscar Wilde's translation of Salome. Tim's interpretation of the Beardlsey illustrations uses striking images in black and white. Some use models in black clothing on a stark white backdrop, other images use a negative effect of black and white.

This was my favourite image of this section where the model's feet have been elongated and she hangs onto a draped harp.

The next section was titled Cloud 9 and the photographs are inspired by the V&A's historical paintings from South Asia. Tim has always been drawn to India and these photographs celebrate the country's vibrancy and rich history of storytelling.

The next section was called Box of Delights and involves a room bedecked in pink. With club music playing, it is Tim's way of expressing the need for everyone to have a world where you can be whoever you want to be, such as in the London club scene.

The V&A has an amazing collection of intricately decorated snuffboxes and Tim saw one with a dragon on it. He visualised an empress walking her pet dragon at night and picking a flower that only blooms at full moon.

The 16th century lacquer snuff box with shell inlay and carved stones

The section titled The Land Of The Living Men shows all photographs of men. Tim wanted to magnify the male nude by making it as big as possible.The title is from a William Morris novel.

Handle With Care is a section of the exhibition that is a love letter to the conservators, curators and archivists at the museum. The dresses are exquisitely wrapped up and become beautiful ghosts. Tim imagines the characters in these photos coming to life in the museum.

Why Not Be Oneself is a section that uses portraits of Tilda Swinton who has inhabited the role of the poet, Dame Edith Sitwell. These pictures are a celebration of age and individuality.

The final section of the museum is called Soldiers Of Tomorrow and is inspired by a 65 metre long photo of the Bayeux Tapestry. Tim was inspired to create photographs that evoke both the chaos and the beauty of the tapestry. As the fashion industry can be very wasteful, Tim liked the idea of everything being recycled, home made and hand knitted for this shoot. Old ironing boards became shields and vacuum cleaners became mad medieval instruments. These modern soldiers are eco-warriors or tomorrow.

This stunning exhibition is on until 8th March 2020.

Vintage kimonos

On Friday I went for a little forage around the Victoria and Albert museum and found myself in the Japanese section, admiring the kimonos. In the Edo period, the kimono was the principal dress for both men and women. The pattern on the surface of the garment was much more important than the cut of the garment and wealth, gender, status and taste were expressed through the choice of colours, motifs and decorative techniques.

This stunner would have been worn by a male actor in the No Theatre, playing a female role.

The patterns were complex and richly coloured using dyes and weaving techniques.

Kabuki is a popular form of Japanese theatre that started in the early 17th century. Women were originally the actors in it, but male actors took over both male and female roles after concerns about women's involvement in prostitution.

This kimono shows vibrant scenes from two well known plays. This garment may not have been worn by an actor but by a high-ranking courtesan.

Stylised floral designs are very popular in kimono patterns.

This kimono is for a woman and uses a bamboo motif that has been rendered using a combination of ink painting, dyeing and embroidery on silk. It also includes characters from a poem which shows the literary knowledge and taste of the wearer.

The presentation of gifts has always been an important part of the social ritual in Japan and gifts were traditionally placed in a box, on a tray, with a textile cover over it, called a fukusa. It was very important that this piece of fabric was appropriate for the occasion. This stunning piece below, depicts a flock of cranes which conveys wishes for a long life and happiness.

The richness of the decoration was an indication of the gift-giver's wealth, and the design showed their taste and cultural sensibilities. After being admired by the recipient, the cover was returned to the gift-giver. This could be a recipe for disaster if you don't understand the fukusa etiquette!

Delicious Dior

I had the great pleasure of going to the highly anticipated Dior exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum last week. The V&A has become well known for its impressive temporary exhibitions and I knew this one was going to be good!

Dior's first collection was launched in February 1947 with the now iconic New Look which used a silhouette of full skirts and nipped in waists. This was seen as very extravagant at the time when rations on fabric were still in place. This was the outfit that opened the exhibition.

In 1991, when John Galliano was designing for Dior, he created the outfit below which echos the style of the New Look, with a modern twist.

Christian Dior's designs played with structure and proportion to create clothes that powerfully expressed an attitude. He carefully considered movement, with each garment needing careful construction and workmanship.

Continuity between collections along with headline-grabbing looks meant the sustainability of the fashion house. I love the simple drama of this stunning red coat.

Dior often used historic references in his designs - the tight waists of the mid-19th century styles and the sumptuous silks of the 18th century. 

Many of the dresses created by Dior and his successors drew on the lavish style of the court dress worn at Versailles. The dress below, designed by Galliano uses gold thread, blue feathers and Swarovski crystals.

As a young man, Dior travelled a lot and from the launch of his first collection he took inspiration from the architecture, landscapes, art and textiles or different countries and cities.

This outfit was inspired by Egypt and uses pieces of turquoise leather to create a scale effect.

Asian countries also influenced Dior, from Japanese kimonos above, to Chinese silks below.

I love this stunning red coat designed by Raf Simons. The style is a nod to the full skirts and nipped in waist of the New Look and uses the colour red of the coat from his first collection. I love the inclusion of the ultra modern metal belt.

The outfit below uses a special technique to concertina the fabric of the skirt into tiny pleats.

The bow on the outfit below, designed by Gianfranco Ferre, is stunning. No need for bright colours as it speaks of itself.

The ateliers, or workrooms, are at the heart of Dior and it is where ideas are turned into exquisite haute couture designs. Once a design has been selected, it is taken to the atelier where a toile was made. This is a prototype garment and is usually made in white cotton fabric. This is when the fit and proportions etc are irned out in the toile garment before the real garment is made and this room in the Dior exhibition showed a number of toiles.

The toile below shows an intricately folded collar design with a hand drawn floral motif that has been pinned over the top to show where embroidery detailing would be used.

The purple garment below is the finished item.

The final room in the exhibition is called The Dior Ball and showcases what Dior does best - evening dresses. Throughout his career he enjoyed designing clothes to be worn at balls and fancy dress parties where he could indulge his imagination and show off the skills of the haute couture ateliers.

His extravagant creations combined skilful draping, intricate embroidery and stunning embellishment and he loved a bit of gold!

Dior's evening gowns often took finery and excess to the extreme.

Dior's successors have continued the excess that has become synonymous with the fashion house.

All these creations are housed in an ever-changing light show where day becomes night and opera and classical music set the scene.

The final creation in this show is an ethereal gown which sums up the style of Dior.