Valentino Exhibition

I went to Somerset House a few weeks ago to see the Valentino exhibition. The first room is filled with loads of letters to and from Valentino, invites to parties, people writing to thank him for various items of clothing he'd given away... Got the idea he's a pretty nice guy!

I found quite a few of the designs really interesting, especially the ones that connected to my textiles design. For example this design as I'm using a cowl back and I love the fur trim. 

There was this amazing 3D screen showing a flower growing and being covered with all sorts of beautiful designs. One of those things you can watch over and over again and not get bored. 

There were also a lot of his own hand drawn designs which were really interesting because you can see where his thoughts started and then later on see the development into an amazing dress. 

The next part of the exhibition was a long walkway and on either side mannequins dressed in the most beautiful garments. What I found most inspiring were all the different types of thing he does. One set would be really glamourous, sparking ball gown dresses, another manly shaped suits, another crazily printed trousers... I loved this garment because I'm using Damien Hirst in my textiles project, specifically butterflies and I thought this was a really clever idea that I may incorporate in my design. 

Just love the back on this, so elegantly sexy.

There were so many amazing garments that I so badly just wanted to try on. The way he creates such beautiful pieces that are so flattering and intricate inspired me so I'd fully recommend everyone going to see it too! 

The way they differentiated between the years that the garments had been created was by different coloured mannequins relating to different years... very clever.

Next they had a film all about Valentino which was really interesting and had him speaking about his work, showing his great passion. There was also a room full of small cabinets with techniques that Valentino uses and then some had videos on how to create them.

Lastly my favorite part of the whole thing was the wedding dress... 

Couldn't actually believe my eyes when I first laid eyes on it. So detailed with embrodered butterflies all through the train and just wow.