Ball gowns: British Glamour since 1950, the first exhibition held in the V&A’s newly renovated fashion galleries, demonstrates the influence of British Couture on such sumptuous dress, and documents the garment’s evolution over time. Designs made for debutante balls to royal state occasions are displayed downstairs thanks to 30 pieces from the museum’s permanent collection while the mezzanine level features dresses fresh from the catwalk shows of Alexander McQueen, Giles, Erdem and more. As one make their way from through such a lavish display of Haute Couture, suffice to say the V&A’s latest endeavor leaves visitors feeling like the Belle (or Beau) of the ball. Sleek spoke with Sonnet Stanfill, the museum’s curator of 20th century and contemporary fashion, to find out more.
Sleek: Why was this particular exhibition chosen as the first to be shown in the V&A’s newly renovated fashion galleries? Stanfill: It comes back to the Olympic year and the Queen’s jubilee. At the V&A it’s been all about British design. We’ve got the British Design show on at the moment celebrating a variety of objects and materials and so we thought it would compliment that show very nicely to have an exhibition about tour de force evening wear designed by British designers.
The space has been designed so that the ground floor’s mise-en-scene is in preparation for a ball, while the mezzanine level is the stylized ballroom. Is there a particular reason why the V&A’s permanent collection was displayed alongside the former, while today’s contemporary designers have mainly been housed upstairs? Part of it was practical, in the sense that we tend not to put the permanent collection on open display and also in addition we really wanted to highlight the talent of young contemporary makers in a very dramatic way. The V&A has been so adept over the years in acting as a source of inspiration for designers – that was one of the founding principles of the V&A, to be a source of study and inspiration for young makers. In the exhibition, even though there are 30 dresses upstairs and 30 dresses downstairs, the upstairs represents only the last five collections while the downstairs represents about fifty years. The result illustrates just how much we want to emphasise young talent such as Christopher Kane and Gareth Pugh.
Why was the 1950s chosen as the starting point for the exhibition? Even from the 1950s to today it’s quite a long time span when you only have 60 outfits to work with, as well as the limits of space dictating that we had to have quite a focused show. It also corresponds roughly to the reign of the Queen and so in this jubilee year it was quite an obvious time span to look at.
When asked about the close affinity between Ball and Brit, David Sassoon, the man who dressed Miss Hepburn in the 50s, noted that ‘Britain has a tradition for Ball gowns simply because we have a Royal family.’ In light of such history, the latest collection of work, including the three ensembles from Sassoon himself, successfully cements the relationship between the glamorous Ball gown and British designer. No doubt the Ball gown continues to remain the ultimate fashion accessory in a woman’s wardrobe.
Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 19 May 2012 – 6 January 2013 V&A, London
Text by Pascale Barget
