Viktor & Rolf, Barbican

find this here
this found here
find me here

Myself and good friend Satoko went to see the House of Viktor & Rolf exhibition at the Barbican, London this Sunday. We followed it up by a massage at a Chinese Massage place she knows on St Martins Lane. Really good. In case you're looking for something to ease those muscles.
Back to the show. And a show it was.
I love the Barbican anyway, but this was a special experience, as I had only ever been there for a pecha kucha event before, and that was brief and the time spent was dictated by someone else. This time round I could take my time and look and re-look at the things going on around me.

On entering the exhibition (and there's a very strict way to enter, we were guided thus by the bouncer man), you encounter a ceramic doll-faced mannequin sporting an old victorian-looking hessian-mixed with sequin dress. At once elegant and somewhat shabby, like the last thing pulled out of the costume department at a defunct play (perhaps Gone With The Wind)... this dress grows on you, as it becomes a landmark for the exhibition. Around every corner there's a new interpretation of the works.

Following the goth-drag-sequin-mother-in-law dress we are presented with very Juan Munoz - looking fragments of models with dresses, all in cream pvc and headless, armless, leaning against glass - as though someone sliced through them, suspended, as you see later in the exhibition, with uncomfortable looking wires.

Moving on, past mini-montages of designing the garments, little showcases depict mini-studios, with easel (ten centimetres high), sketches (thumbnails) and leftovers (scattered across the floor). The hangers to hang tiny clothes were the most engaging pieces within these tiny fashion design boxes, about five centimetres, and all the mini-clothes on display looked entirely in proportion to both our hands, and the hangars.

So much more to say.

I'll tell you what I said in my notebook later, and let you know what else struck me. I've been thinking about it ever since we left the exhibition, that's a sign of a good 'un.