This weekend I went to the Victoria and Albert museum in London to see the Alice: curious and curiouser exhibition including looking at the costume design and garment designs inspired by the famous Alice in Wonderland. This included the likes of Kumiko Uehara, Vivienne Westwood, Viktor&Rolf, Katrina Lindsay, etc. It was really interesting to see how the book and various many adaptations have influenced the world of fashion. Designers such as Vivienne Westwood constantly draw upon the Alice books for inspiration. Vivienne wrote ‘they make you believe that you could be in a parrallel world - or that the world we think we know reflects the way we are programmed to see it'. Designers Viktor and Rolf reimagined the character of Alice in a much more assertive look that echoes their menswear collection at the time: a pale blue blazer dress with sharp folds, wide shoulders and layers of shirts. This look was created for a Vogue shoot in 2003, the designers themselves were seen beside the model in their own matching polka dot suits as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I really love the statement of this dress, it turns away from the much more feminine and delicate looks, picturing Alice as a much more powerful and knowledgeable woman. The shirt layers create really interesting depths - this might have been one of my favourite garments from the exhibition!
Designer Katrina Lindsay hoped to ‘build on the iconic characters we recognise and place them into the digital world of online avatars’. Her dress that was created for the 2015 musical wonder.land evokes a sense of high couture fashion. - I love the shapes and dimensions in Lindsay’s design - the three dimensional curves and shapes almost depict the curiosity of Alice and the 'wonderland'.
We were also lucky enough to get to look at some of the fashion sketches and initial ideas for the characters outfits, for example the Mad Hatter. It was really interesting to get a real insight into the behind the scenes of costume design and I was really inspired by the garments.
Being a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland I really loved the exhibition and exploring the world of costume design. It’s really interesting to see how these characters can be bought to life through their outfits. Alice has inspired many fashion designers and I can see how it could also be a huge inspiration in my work - becoming much more inventive and playful with designs - creating pieces and characters that tell stories.
- Louise x
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