MONDAY
Monday was a very exciting day and it seemed unreachable at first. We met at our university very early in the morning, got into a coach and travelled all day. It was a long, exhausting journey but I had great fun. We got to The Royal National Hotel and it was quite an OK hotel, but we weren't bothered as we were going to be outside most of the time. It was very central and we had the Russel Square Station in a two minute walk which made it very helpful and quick to get to wherever we wanted.
TIP: To travel around London, get an Oyster Card as it is a quick alternative when getting the underground and it does't run out so you can take it home and re-use it whenever you go back.
TUESDAY
On Tuesday we visited the Victoria and Albert museum a truly amazing place where you can get lost for hours and hours on their corridors full of masterpieces. There was that much objects that we could't visit the whole museum but not enough time! so we headed to the costume collections. They were truly the most amazing collection of garments and accessories I have ever seen and I felt like a little kid with candy.
The costume collection of this museum is one of the biggest and greatest of the world.
On the left image you can see a beautiful Victorian dress in magenta, that reflects the silhouette of the era thanks to a crinoline, which is the red structure on the second right photo.On the top right photo, which I found really useful as I was doing my corset at the time (read the blog entry HERE) where you can see the garment's boning structure and how it was done. The next image is a Victorian mourning gown with lace trimmings and a velvet bow which I found beautiful. The next image consists as well on a Victorian piece in a shade of red with black embellishments and trimmings. The third image is an beautiful jacket made of velvet with embroidered flowers which I think it was one of my favourite pieces.
I found this corset very interesting as it haves a spoon busk which I didn't see before. I personally didn't like the colours but I like the silhouette and the lace trimming.
The next garments were all beautiful from different eras, the first one a Victorian wedding dress (ca. 1851) with an embroidered shawl dated ca. 1850, the second a ca. 1910-1920 blouse with a skirt and an umbrella that complements the outfit that reminds me of Mary Poppins in a way. The third is a beautiful headpiece which was used as a wedding veil ca. 1850-1860. I though this amazing wedding veil is my favourite piece of millinery that I have seen so far; it was made mostly of lace and decorated with small flowers on a side. It fascinates me the amount of skill and patience it must have taken to create this accessory.
I love how on these two next pictures, even being different garments, you can almost reflect each other helping me imagine the different layers on the left garment by looking at the right image.
The next 4 images are garments dated around the 17th century. I love the choice of colours and patterns as well as the silhouette of the costumes. I was surprised on how short and tiny costumes were, even the big French court dress was smaller than I expected but I did expect some variations in size compared to the 'new' 21st century women silhouette, as women used to be smaller and shorter as well as the difference in silhouette caused by wearing corsets during a grand period of time.
As well as costume garments, there was also some fashion outfits from different designers being, from left to right being Vivienne Westwood (first one) and Jean Paul Gautier (second and third).
These next 2 photos are from ca. 1940 suits, the third one being a ca. 1950s Dior bright pink suit with a full skirt creating the distinctive New Look silhouette.
Beautiful 1920s gowns in different fabrics including velvet, fur, silk satin, silk Georgette, (top and bottom)
After the V&A, me and a friend visited Camden Market, the centre of coolness and everything mainstream. There was thousands of amazing treasures hidden in little shops and stands. I loved walking around this amazing place that always makes me feel unique on my own way. The food at Camden was incredible; such a huge variety of cultural dishes that decorated the streets with unimaginable smells and colours (and made me very hungry). At noon, we went to the theatre to see Wicked, the story about the witched of Oz. I was very excited to see it as 'The Wizard of Oz' is my favourite musical (and this one relates in a way). It was a magical moment and watching it in the 'West End' which was the cherry on the top. Since they started singing the first note, I felt a sensation almost like having butterflies in my stomach and it made me very emotional. There was tension all the time with a humorous side that was fantastic. I really recommend to watch it.Part 2 coming soon :)
