The V&A’s summer fashion exhibition, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s, which explores the creativity explosion of this decade, has opened and is ready for viewing. Looking at the influence 80s underground club culture made on fashion all over the world, the exhibition runs between 10 July 2013 - 14 February 2014.
To show how club culture was felt way beyond the club doors, the exhibition showcases more than 85 outfits and accessories from designers such as Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Katherine Hamnett, Stephen Jones and Patrick Cox. Here at IKRUSH, we jump at any chance to see designer outfits in the flesh!
With this, the exhibition looks at the 1980’s London clubs that acted as sites for the convergence of music and fashion and provided a safe environment for young people to experiment with music and extrovert tastes. Magazines of the time, The Face, i-D and Blitz, that captured the club and street looks and propelled them to a wider audience, are also shown.
Fashion designer Stevie Stewart of Body Map noted that ‘each group of people, whether they were fashion designers, musicians ordancers, filmmakers or whatever, living together, going out together and at the same clubs … had a passion then for creating something new … that was almost infectious’.
Anyone in London who wants to take a dive into the creative and inspirational fashion of the 80s should mark their calendar for this one.
Have you been already? Tweet us and let us know what you thought @IKRUSH.
By Mandy Thomson