Must-See Fashion Exhibitions

This week I couldn't resist another visit to London. My main reason for travelling down, apart from catching up with friends, was to see two amazing fashion exhibitions: Ballgowns at the V&A museum and Tim Walker: Storyteller at Somerset House. You may remember from my previous London visit post that I was dying to see them, and they definitely met my high expectations! Sadly the Hollywood Costume exhibition was sold out a week ahead which I was gutted about. If only I still lived in London so I could be inspired by exhibitions any day of the week!

This ballgown pictured above is designed by Nicholas Atwood. I love the print of the night sky and the stunning silhouette of the dress. The peach underwear peeking underneath gives it a modern touch. 

The V&A did a wonderful job curating the gowns which were designed from the 1950's to the present day. On the top floor, giant balls created a pearl necklace effect to add to the glamour of the ballgowns. I got overly excited by a few dresses, including one which Beyonce had worn on stage and an embellished dress that Sandra Bullock wore to the Golden Globe Awards which I featured in a blog post last year.

I strongly recommend that you visit Ballgowns at the V&A. It is open until 6th January and tickets are £10.

I urge you even more to visit my favourite fashion photographer Tim Walker's exhibition at Somerset House. He had an exhibition back in 2008 at the Design Museum which I was blown away by and luckily his current exhibition had the same effect on me. Although I have seen a lot of his photography before (I have two of his books and a collection of Vogue magazines featuring his work), there were plenty of photographs I hadn't seen before which made me smile and sometimes even laugh to myself. The photographs were displayed beautifully, but what will amaze people even more are the oversized props he uses in his photographs. I won't give away what all the props are as it would ruin the surprises, but as you can see from this giant doll, they are amazing!

You would be crazy to miss out on this exhibition if you're visiting London before  27th January. It is also free, thanks to it's sponsorship by Mulberry.

I hope you have all had a good week too,

Love from Lou Lou

Styles at London Fashion Week

There is no denying that the show-goers at Fashion Weeks are becoming as interesting to look at as the catwalk shows themselves. From a styling and photography point of view, the street fashion is my favourite part about London Fashion Week. In fact it looked like at least half the people at Somerset House had fancy cameras in their hands rather than show tickets! I was there before and after Mark Fast's show where I was not only taking photographs, but I was photographed myself several times! I wore my shaggy fur coat with a black maxi skirt which you can see here on Elle Thailand's website. 

It was also fun recognising so many faces including bloggers Susie Bubble (pictured below), Scott Schuhman of The Satorialist and Garance Doré. I spotted a few famous singers too - Marina Diamandis (who I LOVE and photographed below), Molly from The Saturdays (who didn't make the final fashion edit for my blog. Sorry Molly!) and Shingai Shoniwa from The Noisettes (who wore a crazy pink fluffy outfit that looked a bit ridiculous but I still love her!)

As you can see below, there were a lot of amazing creative styles to be seen. Many girls had pastel colours in their hair and there were some stunning prints that really caught my eye. I also noticed some crazy platform shoes which people deserved a medal just for walking in them!

I hope you enjoy looking at my photographs and I'd love to read your comments too.

Love from Lou Lou