From club to catwalk

Shoulderpads, hairspray, loadsamoney and yuppies, the 1980s is guilty of some serious cultural and fashion faux pas – but that’s not the way I remember it. Get past the garish brashness and the enduring creativity in the music and fashion is clearly evident. There is an inevitable prejudice for the 1980s – a decade that is within memory and not quite far away enough to be hallowed and respected, yet.

This week I attended the private view of a new show at London’s V&A Museum entitled Club to Catwalk. Some of the fashions on show took me right back to the big shoulders, wide trousers and pastel suits of the period but there were some true classics there by fashion aficionados like Vivienne Westwood, Betty Jackson with The Cloth, Comme des Garçons and Paul Smith. It was a period of excess and this is on show with the aforementioned designers but the flipside is also nicely represented with the outlandish designs of the late, great Leigh Bowery and co.

I think the show could have been bigger, as could the book which has some glaring oversights in my opinion, but we all have our favourites and overall I was impressed. I greatly enjoyed paddling in the pool of warm nostalgia and it was great to rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of that era who I once only read about in Smash Hits. Thirty years later, here I am sharing a glass of Champagne with them. Cheers!

HERE is a link to a ten minute film all about the exhibition.

  • Sandra

    July 12, 2013

    Sounds like it was a fab night! Really enjoyed the video, did you ever go to The Blitz? x

    Reply

    • Andrew

      July 12, 2013

      I was too young to go to BLITZ unfortunately, and I doubt that Steve Strange would have let me through the door, I wasn’t anywhere near eccentric enough 🙂 x

      Reply

  • New '80s Fashion Exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum | Mirror80

    July 15, 2013

    […] A special thank-you to Andrew Dineley, who clued me in on this exhibition. Take note that he curates a website on the London-based art and design collective known as The Cloth. If you aren’t familiar with this group of ’80s designers (or if you’re their biggest fan), you’ll be impressed by Dineley’s thorough collection of images and archives, which document everything from the group’s T-shirt designs to a range of articles written about the collective’s work. Dineley, who attended the exhibit and its opening events, has blogged about Club to Catwalk. Check out the post and a short film about the exhibition here. […]

    Reply

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