Soooooo, last week, the 14th December to be precise me, my mum and sister took a trip to London. We had an amazing day out, even though the weather wasn't on our side (sad face) and had booked tickets to see the V&A Hollywood Costume Exhibition. I had been lusting over tickets for weeks until my Mum treated me and my sister (she can't miss out on anything). The annoying part is that you have to book tickets, as availability is limited on the day, due to the high demand of tickets... there are obviously many eager costume fanatics around!
I have applied to study Costume Design at University next year so I have a love for costume, however the exhibition would be a great day out for anyone who loves film, TV or theatre, as it gives you a chance to see the costumes, extremely closely. Sadly you can't touch or try them on, which I'm sure my sister would have loved. From Dorothy in The Wizard of OZ to the Spider Man costume there are sooooooo many to look at, in numerous rooms. Annoyingly you couldn't take photographs, which I understand and the extremely dark lighting in the room would have made this impossible anyway. You have to be careful when walking around as it is really dark, so avoid peoples toes haha. However the lighting was great for showcasing the diamante detailing on many of the costumes, like Satine (Nicole Kidman's) character in Moulin Rouge (Sorry if I got the name wrong) which was beautifully perched on a swing, close to the ceiling. Eerily instead of having no faces, or photographs each of the costumes has a screen above it(where the actors face would be) which has the actors face on it. Each of the faces slowly moves, as if it is looking at you, which was quite freaky... but a great touch!
Overall I would give the Exhibition a 10/10 I absolutely loved it, there were video clips of the costume designers talking about their creations and collaborations with actors. It was great learning how Johnny Depp helped with the creation of his costume in Sweeney Todd and we really surprised by the size of the costumes, even Edward(Robert Pattinson) suit in Twilight appeared really small in person. Audrey Hepburn's iconic LBD from Breakfast at Tiffany's was so small and elegant, as well as Marilyn Monroes.
After walking through the three rooms, through the deconstruction room, learning about re-creating costumes and ageing fabrics to the dialogue and then the finale room we were starving and decided to sample some of the cakes in the V&A cafe. For me the only way the Exhibition could be improved is to have the actors there, aha in my dreams! However it would be nice to see somebody wearing the costumes, to see how they move and fit on somebody other than the actor, my sister wanted to take Beyonce's Dream Girls dress home. There were small children in the gallery who loved seeing the costumes up close, especially Captain Jack Sparrows however they did become impatient and seemed 'bored' so I probably wouldn't recommend it to small children.
Anyway, before I ramble on, I could talk about it all day, I better draw this to an end. I don't think there's long left to see the exhibition and tickets go quickly so if you love costume then quickly book them up! there's lots about it on the V&A website!
Sorry if there's spelling or grammar mistakes I haven't properly proof read this and this is my first post :)
