Big in the eighties: neon, gothic and fetish! Designer clubwear trends from the decade that style forgot to go on show at the V&A
John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnettgo's designs
Fetish, Goth, Rave, High Camp and New Romantic clubwear
Boy George, Adam Ant, Leigh Bowery and Duran Duran's 80s style
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UPDATED:
18:24 GMT, 21 December 2012
Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s, the V&A's summer fashion exhibition, opens in July 2013 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
It will explore the creative
explosion of London fashion in the 1980s and look at how the impact of
underground club culture was felt far beyond the club doors, reinventing
fashion worldwide.
More than 85 outfits by designers
such as John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett will be
on display together with accessories by designers including Stephen
Jones and Patrick Cox.
The ground floor gallery will focus
on the young fashion designers who found themselves on the world stage
for creating bold, exciting looks.
Sketch for Levi Strauss & Co. jacket 'BLITZ', by Enrico Coveri (left), and Fallen Angel suit (right) by John Galliano
Duran Duran formed by members Nick Rhodes, Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor
The mezzanine gallery will concentrate on club wear, grouping garments by tribes such as Fetish, Goth, Rave, High Camp and New Romantics. This includes clothes of the type worn by Boy George and Adam Ant, as well as more extreme designs worn by Leigh Bowery.
The Catwalk To provide a snapshot of the most fashionable and creative designers working in
London in the 1980s, the exhibition shows a display of Blitz denim jackets.
In 1986, Blitz magazine commissioned a group of 22 London-based designers to customise denim jackets provided by Levi Strauss & Co. The jackets were exhibited at the V&A and auctioned in aid of the Prince's Trust on 10 July 1986.
Further cases will display garments by influential 1980s designers, with a substantial amount of menswear designs by Jasper Conran, Paul Smith, Workers for Freedom and Willy Brown who dressed Duran Duran.
Princess Julia and Boy George at Billy's Club For Heroes circa '78 (left) and Robert Smith of The Cure in Los Angeles, California, July 1987 (right)
Denim jacket, 'BLITZ', by Levi Strauss & Co., customised by Vivienne Westwood
Sketch for Levi Strauss & Co. denim jacket, 'BLITZ', by Stephen Linnard
Wendy Dagworthy utilized Liberty prints while English Eccentrics and Timney Fowler made print fashionable. There will also be sections dedicated to the energetic, bright clothes of Chrissie Walsh, Georgina Godley, Bodymap and John Galliano.
In the early 1980s Katherine Hamnett pioneered the vogue for stylish, casual clothing made in oversize crumpled cottons and silks while Bodymap, founded in 1982 by Stevie Stewart and David Holah, produced an exhilarating blend of form-fitting knits, layered stretch Lycra jersey and rhythmic print.
'London's clubs in the 1980s provided a safe
environment in which young people could experiment and mix with those of
similar tastes'
Two of John Galliano's menswear ensembles from the 1985 Fallen Angel collection will be on display, along with a pink, muslin dress from 1986.
This section will also explore the emergence of knitwear as fun and fashionable, with examples from Kay Cosserat, Artwork and Patricia Roberts, while evening wear by Bruce Oldfield and Anthony Price will reflect the more glamorous aspect of 1980s fashion.
London's clubs in the 1980s acted as a site for the convergence of music and fashion and provided a safe environment in which young people could experiment and mix with those of similar tastes.
A range of looks will be displayed, ranging from the exaggerated, exotic styles favoured by the Blitz crowd, through the distressed styles of Hard Times, to the eclectic mixing and individual expression of Taboo, to the dance influenced looks of acid house.
Clothes designed and worn by Leigh Bowery, ringmaster of a
carnivalesque nightspot Taboo, will be on display along side fetishwear by Pam Hogg and Vivienne Westwood.
Khaki suit designed by Katharine Hamnett (left), and Dress designed by Willy Brown (right)
Clothes by Christopher Nemeth and jewellery by Judy Blame will show how customization, DIY and re-appropriation of objects prevailed as the club look.
Rave and euphoric house nights, where the combination of dance music and drugs created an atmosphere in which inhibitions were totally gone, changed dress once again. Following the summer of 1987, a number of DJs began to recreate the sound and atmosphere of the Ecstasy-fuelled Ibiza dance clubs.
The loose shapes of the early 1980s disappeared and a new kind of tight fitting club wear evolved that featured day-glo colours and metallic tones.
This movement is represented by the designs of Rifat Ozbeck and Westwood's silver leather 'armoured' jackets.
Beatrice Dalle, Kylie Minogue and Vivienne Westwood in the 1980s
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The atmosphere of friendly and fun clubs like Shoom began to be reflected in much more casual styles.
The dressed-up aesthetic of earlier clubs, like Taboo, was replaced by 'ponchos, dungarees, and loose T-shirts bearing the yellow Smiley motif' as reported The Face in June 1988.
A small club-like area will be created within the space to show film footage of clubs from the 1980s and stream music chosen by DJ Princess Julia.
There will also be unique garments made for club stars such as Leigh Bowery, Scarlett and Juliana Sissons.
'i-D, essentially a fashion fanzine, alongside The Face, was considered the definitive 'style bible' of the 1980s'
Magazines and accessories The exhibition will feature magazines of the time – The Face, i-D and Blitz – that captured and propagated the club and street look to a wider audience.
The Face heralded the arrival of the 'style' magazine and combined a sense of immediacy with the high-end production values of Vogue and Tatler.
i-D, essentially a fashion fanzine, was launched in August 1980 and, alongside The Face, was considered the definitive 'style bible' of the 1980s.
Accessories were an essential part of any clubber or fashion follower's wardrobe and the 1980s launched the careers of some hugely influential accessories designers.
The work of Judy Blame, Bernstock Speirs, Patrick Cox, Johnny Moke and collaborations with Sock Shop will be on display alongside the Filofax and Mulberry bags.
The exhibition is curated by V&A Head of Fashion, Claire Wilcox, and Wendy Dagworthy is the expert consultant.
Entry to the exhibition will be 5. Tickets will go on sale June 2013. To book
visit www.vam.ac.uk or call 020 7907 7073 (booking fee applies)