Monday, March 16, 2009

Dior Darling!


Yesterday, the sis and I decided we had to get our act together and go see the couture exhibition before it finished. I'm so glad we did! Vintage designer fashion, from 1947-57, hurrah! Luckily we went early, as by the time the gallery doors opened, the queues were right around the block. Downsides: exhibition catalogues had sold out, low lighting (as to not damage frocks) made it hard to see a lot of them, and my personal pet peeve, inconsiderate gallery goers. Ahem, try an excuse me? Or even better, when I ask you if I can get past, actually pull your head out of your arse and acknowlege me.
The lack of catalogues (how hard would it be to print more?) and the no photography rule meant that I don't have any pics for you, so here's some I've cadged from here:





Favourites were two of Princess Margaret's evening frocks with TINY TINY waists - one navy and one black with diamente beaded shoulder straps; a gorgeous off-white ostrich feather confection with embroidery and beading; and a gorgeous shoulderless full length French (Givenchy) evening gown, embroidered all over with a lily of the valley motif, that wouldn't look out of place as a wedding dress. The Queen's coronation dress was also there, as well as a case full of corsets and bullet bras, and lots of Audrey-esque ensembles.

(Here's my fave dress as mentioned above "'Les Mugeuts' Evening dress by Hubert de Givenchy, 1955", image source)

Exhibition is on at the Bendigo Art Gallery until March 22, so if you can manage it, I'd recommend a trip!

Here's some more images, from The Age: (source)

(The dress in the foreground of the above pic is the Queen's Coronation Dress.)


Mmmm, frocks.

13 comments:

CurlyPops said...

Glad to see you back in blogland!

Ulla said...

Adorable dresses! If I could come and see the exhibition, I promise I would behave.

Amy said...

I SO would have enjoyed that!

kgirlknits said...

t myself I missed this one, it looks like such a good exhibition!

hope you and your sis had fun :)

Anonymous said...

Wowsa, look at the little waists! I'm bracing myself to go to a Monet exhibition. I have to get my game face on to deal with the rude people who refuse to move when you ask. Grrrr. A quick kick to the shins...

Cate Lawrence said...

gosh imagine having a waist that tiny...where would I fit my chocolates and vodka????!

Cate Lawrence said...

actually, im pretty sure this is the same exhibition I saw in london or maybe singapore....

Drewzel said...

Cate, possibly, it's all from the V&A museum :)

Jimmy Trickle said...

I'm glad I wasn't the only one getting cheezed off by the rudeness of my fellow museum goers.

And one particularly unhelpful staff member.

Still the frocks were worth it.

Cindy said...

Oh my, frock-o-licious. So glad you shared!

suzy said...

The red dress is fantastic.
What a gorgeous exhibition.

Jo (sparkly green knickers) said...

My sister and I went to see the exhibition the week before you did. Stunning gowns! Pity about the lighting and the "ladies of a certain age" who tended to push in front of me:(

Otherwise we loved it!

And who would have thought Princess Margaret was so tiny!

Jenaveve said...

Drooling now... they look divine. Shame I missed that one!


Pic from Miss Retro Modern's fab collection here.

Trying...