Fashion/art review: Wedding Dresses 1775-2014
3 May 2014 – 15 March 2015
Victoria and Albert Museum – map
Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Viewing date: Friday 6 June 2014
Review by: Alexa Williamson
Rating: ***** (out of 5)
For hundreds of years now, British (and American) weddings – and the dresses that women have worn to them – have become more and more extravagant and are now a culture, and for some an obsession, unto themselves. Weddings in both of these cultures tend to cost thousands, hundred of thousands, and even millions. I
In this exhibition, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has embraced the fun and lavish detail, the beauty and elegance of a well-made wedding dress. If you love, heavy silk, and sometimes organza, tulle or satin dresses, and your pieces in ivories and champagnes, with pearls, velvet, lace and more, then you will love this exhibition – especially for girly girls and historians.
Just like the name of the exhibition states, it takes a chronological look at how wedding dresses transformed and what the trends were from (mainly in Britain) from 1775 to the present. Most of the dresses are beautiful if you love a big, detailed dress, in silk, and with a train and intricate detail. Some of the creations are also shockingly tacky! Both the beautiful and the bawdy make a grand mix and it’s intriguing to learn the things that “high society” has embraced since 1775.
Besides the lovely and breathtaking Victorian and Edwardian silk creations that you will see on display, there is also British fashion model Kate Moss‘ John Galliano dress from 2011 that took 701 hours to make and had 2800 pearl beads on it and 270,000 sequins, Jenny Packham‘s high waisted, chiffon Rapunzel dress with many Swarovski crystals on the bodice, and both numberous Vera Wang creations and also a strapless, laced-bodice silk dress by Catherine Rayner that both captured the 1990s.
This exhibition is the perfect size and easy to understand and navigate around. A fun outing worth your time and money.
Further information:
Victoria and Albert Museum (official site)
Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014, review (The London Reviewer)
The London Reviewer 