When, on one of my weekend jaunts to visit the sister in London recently, I let her drag me to the Club to Catwalk exhibition at the Victoria and Albert.
Now, I'm not entirely clued up on my fashion, I can identify a D&G from an Amanda Wakeley and differentiate a Givenchy to a Celiné (all from my Harvey Nichols days) however, I don't fully 'get' the history behind todays fashion and why I wear what I wear.
A few years ago I used to regard fashion very differently, I worked at Topshop and lived in flowery dresses and ballet pumps with a blazer thrown over against the chill. Then the opportunity to cross over brands to Topman presented itself & I never looked at a flowery dress again. I was introduced to boxy tshirts, oversized shirts and men's coats and fell in love with the silhouettes. My love of androgyny was born. Taking this love further I started to play with leather, shapes and mixing dresses (never flowery) tshirts and Doc Martens, never questioning my influences.
Then. I went to the V&A. And discovered 80s club fashion.
Photos weren't allowed in the Club to Catwalk exhibition which saddens me, however, what I did witness would never relate through a picture; studs, leather, slashes, metallics were all in front of me. Items by Vivenne Westwood, Malcolm Mclaren, John Galliano, BOY London and Betty Jackson (and many others not so well known) were all present. Outfits worn by Adam Ant & other new romantic heroes were within touching distance, (no. I did not touch) & really brought the era to life.
I got stuck in a blacked out video booth during the visit, I was entranced by about 25 screens showing nights from famous 80s clubs, such as Taboo. Knowing I would not be cool enough to be deemed entry to these clubs all the more enticed me into a jealousy of the people partying on the screen. The party people were wearing such outlandish outfits and looked so relaxed, the video screens just screamed coolness that I wanted to dive into. I had to be physically dragged from this room by my sister. Damn being born in '85 & not old enough to have partied in that era.
Looking at my outfit I wore to visit the exhibition made me feel like a particle of the 80s club culture could live on inside me today. Finally, I realised that there was more to what I was wearing than I had thought, or hadn't thought, when I had just thrown it on that morning.
(I wore, vintage jeans, my tartan blazer, a mens tshirt & my trusty doc martens shoes)
Here are some other photos of fashion inside the V&A that I was allowed to take photos of (unedited).
