Fashion Exhibition Review
——Ballgowns:British Glamour Since 1950

張天一

（山東英才學院藝術學院，山東 濟南 250101）

Fashion Exhibition Review
——Ballgowns:British Glamour Since 1950

張天一

（山東英才學院藝術學院，山東 濟南 250101）

The Victoria&Albert Museum in London hold a fantastic exhibition about British ballgowns fashion since 1950s.This essay isexplaining what happened in the exhibition and introduced some typical objects.Exploring the relationship between fashion and culture.

Ballgowns;Glamour;Culture;British

Many European countries especially British have come out from the shadowof Second World War and back to re-strengthen the culture since 1950.People participate in different social activities such as balls to promote the social progress,thereby boosting the economic recovery.In order to better represent themselves in the ball and express their own personal identity,ladies dressed-up and selected the most suitable clothing to attending the ball very carefully.Therefore, ball gowns began to be popular since that time.According to McNeil: 'Fashion is a social custom,transmitted by imitation or by tradition.It is a form of luxury,luxury in ornamentation.'(McNeil,2009:38).It can be seen as fashion is a reflection ofsocial development as a wayof communicates form.

It has delivered an information about human's ideologyas well as personal identity.At that period,ball gowns means luxury decoration, decoration ourselves.

Recently,in order to have a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of howthe ball gowns influenced in the past and contemporary of fashion,and howdoes the ball gowns as a social identity influenced in the people's daily life,the London Victoria&Albert Museum,from 19th of May 2012 until 6th of January 2013,is holding a exhibition named"Ballgowns:British Glamour Since 1950".This exhibition combine with the different ballgowns since 1950 until the present date,introduce a transformation of ballgowns development process,to understand fashion which is not only means by cloth,but more as a representation ofidentity,to express the character ofpeople and have a experience of how does the society developed by the change offashion.

The exhibition is holding at a round middle space of the ground floor,not verybigbut just the right size ofthis theme.The booklet can be taken at the reception in front of the entrance.The booklet is half A5 size,no over decorated,all white background with black simple word font on it same as all the explaining words appear in the exhibition on the wall.Introduction print on the white wall in the beginning of entrance,these information also included in the booklet.The basic tone of this exhibition is white and bright.Visitors could have a look the details very carefully in this way.Map is printing in the booklet will lead visitors tostart with this exhibition as a guide.Ballgowns exhibition is divided into two floors,ground floor display the ballgowns since 1950,and the mezzanine shows the contemporary ballgowns in recent years.

All garments are well display in different windows behind the glass.There are five sections which are:Designingfor the Ball,Wearers,The occasion,Royalty and In the Spotlight.Unfortunately these titles are not showingon the map,it will be easier and helpful for visitors if the titles can label on the map.The garments all displayed in a white mannequin in different pose,and with mark number in front of it.Information mentioned where this ball gowns come from,who is the designer by what time,some of the long description normally have a image next to it which is gives the visitors an idea ofhowpeople looks like in this gown.During visit the different sections,there are three small window display for evening gloves,evening shoes and evening bags.These elements as indispensable accessories in balls,will change and shaped people's characteristic,and more importantly,can be seen on the quality of life.The staircase which in the back side of the exhibition leading visitors go to the second floor.Projecting apparatus set on the right hand side ofthe staircase,showinga five minutes movie about the upper class ladies display how to dress the ball gowns.The sounds may be a little bit loud as sometimes visitors can hear it on the other side ofthe exhibition.

As we can see from the movie,people carefully chosen ball gowns for one special occasion to make sure that their dress fit in the environment and demonstrate their identity.The events requiring the formal dress,and meanwhile,indicate that this special social gathering requires the higher level of people from different social strata such as royaltyand celebrities.Theytend tofocus more on the showingthat they are from upper class,so they will be more careful on choosing ball gowns.There is a dress showing in the section'Royalty',silk crape white gowns with pearls and beading around designed by Catherin Walker in 1989.Worn byPrincess ofWales Diana when she was on the official visit to Hong Kong in the same year.As said by Catherin:'She shone this dress,and this dress shone around her in a shimmering column ofglistening pearls.'(Walker,1989).People can show the details of the garments but more importantly,the garments reflect human being's personalityand made people shone.

Following the sign'Exhibition is continue'showing on the white stair,it leads visitors to the second floor,which is based on the contemporary ball gowns displayed.There is a fake chandelier hang from the ceiling which is express a feeling of the contem-porary.Ball gowns are displayed in a clean mannequin without any glass covered.By comparing the ball gowns form 1950s displayed downstairs,the changing is very evident.The fabric from 1950's gowns is basically silk,crepe,satin and lace,however contemporary gowns made by many interesting fabric like silver, leather,even some with the Swarovski Crystals.That is a big revolution of ball gowns.Speaking of shape,ball gowns dress normally covered legs till the ground.Nowadays,the gowns which can be cut short up to the knees.These surfaces changing reflect the improvement of the social environment.Human's ideology becomes more open and verity.

This ball gowns exhibition is not very big but really plentiful,the venue has been selected verycarefullyas V&A museumis kind compare the traditional and contemporary art together.The Ballgowns exhibition is clearly reveal the changes in the nearly sixty years of balls gowns fashion.Thereby,visitors are not only understand the changing ofball gowns itself,but also the changing ofhowfashion impacted the social environment and personallyidentity.

(Words account:1086)

[1]Cullen,O.&Stanfill,S.Ballgowns:British glamour since 1950(Hardbacked.)[M].London:V&APub,2012.

[2]Jarvis,A.ed.Fashion Theory.2:4 (Methodology Special Issue)[M].Oxford:Berg,1998.

[3]McNeil,P.Fashion:criticalandprimarysources(English ed.)[M].Oxford: Berg,2009.

[4]Palmer,A.Reviewing Fashion Exhibitions[J].Fashion Theory,2008(01).

TS941

A

1005-5312（2015）02-0269-01