Return_of_The_Glamorous_50s

Return of the Glamorous 50′s
Written on the 1st of January 2009 by Rachel Quilty
The Golden Age of Couture

If this is to be a year of change, then what better way to start the year than with a visit to this wonderful exhibition.

At a glance this may look like an exhibition of gowns and accessories from an age of indulgence. It may look like a display of clothing made for the rich and famous by the worlds most renowned designers. It is that and so much more.

As always this year Jump the Q hopes to educate through our seminars, eNewsletters and of course our Style and Wardrobe Makeover packages . But we must also educate ourselves and this exhibition is a chance to see a period of enormous change that informed much of the rules and guidelines by which we dress and present ourselves today.

Bendigo Art Gallery is proud to announce an outstanding exhibition for Summer 2008-09. The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum London, is being presented in Victoria exclusively at Bendigo Art Gallery.

The exhibition explores one of the most glamorous and remarkable decades in fashion history. Starting with the impact of Christian Dior’s New Look after the Second World War, it looks at the work of Dior and his contemporaries during the period when haute couture was at its height.

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the launch of the New Look in 1947, the exhibition shows how Dior’s ballerina-skirted dresses signaled the return to luxury and elegance after wartime austerity. It examines the world of couture, highlighting the work of Dior, Crist?bal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain in Paris and their London counterparts Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies. Other successful designers of the time – such as Fath, Griffe, Stiebel, and Michael of London – feature in a broad survey of the decade.

More than 100 dresses are on display including day wear, cocktail and evening dresses made for society and royalty alongside photographs by Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon and original Hollywood and documentary film. There are audio recordings, textiles and archival material such as bills of sales and letters. More than 95 per cent of the dresses are from the V & A’s own fashion collections.

This was an era when not only were we challenging the normal rules of dressing but when quality and value were considered necessary, when understanding the importance of your appearance and the appropriateness of your clothing in any given situation was paramount.

At this time, although image consulting did not officially exist, designers were the image consultants because they did not just design for a mass market they had clients who they created looks that did the utmost to present their clients in the best possible light. Just as Jump the Q aims to do for all it’s clients today.

Bookmark This Post:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•