Fashionably Late

Hello everyone,

My frequent visits to the Vintage Brighton website provides me with lots of inspiration for many a vintage look but I love the events section of the website in particular. A few weeks ago, I noticed the event, 'Fashionably Late', to be held at the Pavillion. Not only was there entry into the Biba exhibition, but cocktails, music, hair, make-up...a vintage girls' dream! There was no question about it, I was going and purchased two tickets so I could drag my boyfriend along!

I rushed home from work, quickly transformed myself and rushed out. We walked in through a variety of furniture designs, straight to the bar for some vintage themed cocktails, and then began to look around. I didn't really anticipate that you could also have a nosy around some of the museum exhibitions, so we snook in and had some cheeky photos next to a lovely scooter!

 

We then wandered past the perspex jewellery making, and went upstairs for a look at the fashion exhibition. Not only was there a fantastic array of different clothes to try on, but a photographer to capture the moment and iconic designs from the eras around the room for inspiration. I particularly loved the display of dresses in tribute to the Union Jack.

 

Then we entered the Biba exhibition. The display was designed in a timeline effect, you first began to learn about Barbara Hulanicki's family, to her time at Brighton College of Art and Design and then you followed the exhibition as the Biba brand grew. This brings together a collection of newspaper clippings, illustrations, original pieces and original stories from visitors and employees. I found it particularly amazing that at the very start of her career, a design was advertised in the Daily Mirror! You could purchase it, and as her followers grew, so did the brand. It really was amazing to see the growth of a brand from a passion of a talented student, to the dizzying heights that it reached! The show runs until April '13 so get yourselves down there! Here are a few photos I took...

 

 

 

There was also a display of the make up that Barbara designed for Biba.

 

 

This entire collection was donated by the amazing make up artist, Lisa Eldridge. It was in incredible condition and the colours were so vibrant, it seems to have been the equivalent then to what MAC is to us today. I really recommend you to check out her website. She has extremely accurate and easy to do make up tutorials, including a sixties look designed in collaboration with Barbara Hulanicki. You can find this here. I love how she uses a range of brands from the extremley high end to more often than not, your basic brands found in Boots. She has lots of interesting videos that are definitely worth a look.

 

Wow this has turned into quite a long post! I had a fantastic evening and love visiting exhibitions like this, they fill me with inspiration and to think that a ticket was five pounds, what a bargain. Did any of you go to Fashionably Late? Have you seen the exhibition? What did you think? I will end this post with a picture of me becoming part of an exhibition...

 

 

 

Dress: New Look

Shoes: Topshop (years ago)

Bag: Vintage Darling!

 

Lots of love,

 

Hannah xxx