Skip to main content

Tag: Victoria Albert Museum

The Chic Geek Comment What the 1978 Christie’s Chanel auction tells us about the changing attitudes in collecting vintage fashion

The final look in the V&A museum’s new Chanel exhibition features a very austere and catholic looking black buttoned dress with white dog collar. It was the star item – featuring on the cover of the catalogue – at the 1978 sale at Christie’s of Coco Chanel’s possessions. It was bought by the V&A museum at the ‘Sale of the Personal Collection of Chanel’ to add to its extensive fashion collection.  While I don’t know how much the museum paid for it, I am certain it wouldn’t be able to buy it today. Fashion wasn’t looked at the same then. It was something that came and went and wearing second clothes had more of a stigma than sartorial statement. It had a value, but it was a niche market to fill a gap in a museum collection. Many brands didn’t have archives...

Continue reading

Exhibition V&A DIVA

DIVA celebrates the power and creativity of iconic performers, exploring and redefining the role of ‘diva’ and how this has been subverted or embraced over time across opera, stage, popular music, and film. Showcasing over 250 objects drawn from the V&A collection and loans from across the world, the exhibition explores the powerful and personal stories of creativity, ambition, and resilience of some of the best-known divas, from opera goddesses and silent movie stars to sirens of the big screen and today’s global megastars.  TheChicGeek says, “The difficult temporary exhibition space above and in the centre of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Fashion Gallery is my least favourite. Things just don’t pop here. They really should think about the lighting...

Continue reading