Quick trip to South Kensington

 ...to see two things - the Fashioning Masculinities exhibition at the V&A, which is finishing on 6 November, and a 72-foot rocket that is temporarily outside the Science Museum.

Simple and elegant, 18th century

Amusing little film danced by men in underwear

In "Spitfire", "choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne OBE ... takes an affectionate look at male vanity and the world of men's underwear advertisements"

Also visible is Aitor Throup's translucent "Ensemble"

Conspicuous consumption of fine fabric in India

"The finer the muslin, the more fabric could be gathered in a 

jama's skirt and ruched in its sleeves"

West meets East in two dragon robes, one made into a jacket

The rocket tucks under the wing of a converted 747  (you can just about see it in the final photo). During air launch to orbit the plane points upward to get LauncherOne at the best angle, and when it's released the plane lurches. (I feel seasick just thinking about it.) It will be launched from the UK soon, from Spaceport Cornwall, Newquay. So far, LauncherOne has delivered cubesats to low earth orbit.

Out of the closet - or rather, the wardrobe

Since my art school days, round about 2010, I've been wearing jeans, black jeans, on a rotational basis - one pair on the body, the other in the wash. It's been a liberation to be freed of "the tyranny of the closet", never being able to find the "right" thing to wear. So much easier to put on the jeans, add a teeshirt and other layer, and it's all done, you're set for the day.

And, in theory, it reduces the number of garments in one's wardrobe.

But recently I bought a dress, and then another, "just for a change". In the past few years, dresses have been flooding onto the market. Goodness, I even made one last winter.

Also recently, I became aware that the dresses, and much else, are simply languishing in the closet, probably picking up that unwelcome whiff of oldness that starts to inhabit clothes that rarely see the light of day.

As a result of these actions and thoughts, I came up with a personal project: 

Jeans-Free July

Can a jeans addict wear other garments for an entire month? Are YOU a jeans addict - would you like to try??

Excited by the idea, I had a little rummage in the closet and put a few outfits together in readiness. (Only 10 days to go!)

Dresses -

Latest acquisition - I felt the need of some COLOUR

"Just a long loose teeshirt" - but the golden colour
is so wonderful!

The smocky dress is bit short, needs leggings...

Without the teeshirt, this is perfect in the heat

Oldies but goodies - in fabulous fabrics. I whipped up
the jacket back in the 80s from a remnant, as one did
in those good old days

 Skirts -

That's probably enough* to be starting with, whatever the weather -

Just in case the weather turns chilly, as it can and has done, a number of LBJs (little black jackets) are ready for action. I do love an LBJ...

Leggings, if I dare, "at my age" - and why not! -

With other teeshirts, other shoes....

Love those long loose linen shirts!

Various non-jean trousers emerged, along with some other beloved linen shirts -

Candidates for studio-wear

... and a drawerful of teeshirts -

Too many stripes? No! You can never have too many stripes!!

*A while back I purged my wardrobe, with the help of a friend, in a couple of days of "japanese tidying". This involves gathering everything and going through it piece by piece. In our so-rich western culture, when we gather everything together, it becomes plain that we (I use "we" loosely, there are exceptions...) have SO much and often too much in our fortunate lives ... but that's another story.

At the risk of becoming a little old lady who is still wearing the clothes she bought during her working life - clothes that are now looking a little tired, emitting a gentle whiff and hanging loosely on her gaunt frame - I probably need buy nothing more for the next two decades, just rotate what's already there.

But goodness, isn't it nice to have something new to wear!! 

Walking round the 'hood

Fonthill Road "fashion district"

More Fonthill Fashion

Finsbury Park's skyscraper being built - maybe in two years
we'll be able to access the tube station without having to walk under
the railway bridges, in the dripping semi-dark, past the rough sleepers
and the buskers - today it was bagpipes!

 On a happier note - a section of one of the local "organic shops" - I'm utterly bedazzled by the choice in each category of fruits and veg, especially the tomatoes (not shown this time) -

 They have various types of lentils, as you'd expect -

 Another range of lentils gives Turkish names too -

This isn't the organic shop that stocks 8 (eight) kinds of tahini ... I forgot to check how many kinds of tahini this one has...

A fashion foray

It's sometimes as interesting to see the people who are attending an exhibition as it is to see the exhibition itself. When I popped in to the Balenciaga exhibition at the V&A (till 18 Feb) there were a lot of college-age students, many sat looking at their phones but quite a few sketching -

 A sign at the entrance said "photography and sketching are encouraged".

Upstairs - in the airy space, such a good contrast to the crowded space below - are examples of Balenciaga's influence -

I liked the juxtaposition of "La Chou" and the reflection of a slide show of other dresses -

 Downstairs (crowded but informative), several x-rays of garments, showing the construction and underpinnings. On the left is a reconstruction of a toile (in calico); on the right, the finished dress revolves -

 More underpinnings - the dress on the left is inside out to show the details of the corset, with the seams covered to make it maximally comfortable. On the right, a dummy that exactly replicates the model who would be showing the dress made on it to clients in the salon -

 It was often the fabric that inspired Balenciaga - nor, though working in Paris, did he confine himself to French fabrics. Here's a print from the Swiss firm Abraham -

Mysterious

The mystery isn't "who is the subject of this photo" - it's Coco Chanel; rather, it's a mystery to me why it's in my files! The layering and shadowing is rather fascinating; it could be a moment snapped by a papparazzo, though ... when? It has a timelessness... as does Chanel.

Chanel learned to sew during her convent education, and worked as a seamstress - and cafe entertainer. She began designing hats and became a licensed milliner in 1910, her Paris and Deauville shops financed by her lover, Arthur Capel. A subsequent shop in Biarritz was a big success, and by 1919 she was a licensed couturier. The rest is a history studded with stars and aristocrats.

She closed her fashion house, which employed 3000, at the start of the second world war, but relaunched in 1954, aged 70. She had introduced jersey, until then used for underwear, as a fashion fabric, and based her style on designs influenced by horseracing and yachting of the glamorous world she moved in. As well as the famous perfume, there's her famous Chanel suit, custom fitted to enable its wearers to perform daily activities with comfort and ease. And it was Chanel who made suntans not only acceptable, but denoting a life of leisure and privilege.

Alexander McQueen at the V&A

Well done, V&A, with the Alexander McQueen exhibition "Savage Beauty". In the last week, advance tickets have all been sold, queues for day tickets are long, opening times have been extended till midnight ... and there have been queues at the membership desk, people becoming Friends just so that they can go see the show.

Ever-lengthening queues to become a V&A Friend and have access to the exhibition

As a Friend I've been to the show several times with different friends. Is it heresy to say that, first time I saw the exhibition, I didn't enjoy it? Crowded, dark, hard to read labels, too much to take in ... especially in the (crowded) "cabinet of curiosities" room -

(via)

But in subsequent visits the novelty had worn off and it was possible to see, to take in, more ... to revisit favourites, to look closer, to see things that had gone unnnoticed ... this head-dress for instance -

See lots more photos at fashion.telegraph.co.uk.

These "wearable" jackets were among my favourites -

(via)

whereas Plato's Atlantis, the final room and McQueen's final show, left me cold -

(via)

The "japanese" collection was full of interest - beautiful fabrics, inventive cutting, strange details (underskirt of shells; molded hessian bodice; sudden realisation of straightjacket; etc etc) -

The exhibition is an intense experience, in which you have no idea of the passage of time, or that it might be daylight, even sunlight, when you emerge. 

Exit is via the gift shop, which segues into the bookshop, where I found a few books for future browsing, perhaps even immediate purchase -

Several of the items on display were described as "cuirasses"

Classic books by Janet Arnold; fascinating

Wonderful bedtime reading, or even just looking at the pictures

696 contributors! The book is based on a questionnaire...intriguing and tempting

"It seems to have your name on it" said Karen. So it came home with me.

Seen in Vogue

Everyday dress in Bhutan, amid the (shiny) pages of Vogue magazine -

Traditional and dignified; the sort of clothes you don't have to think twice about. The accompanying photoshoot was exuberant with colourful fantasy costumes and the fashion was ... well, fashion ...

In the same issue (?May), the article about dry cleaning did emphasise the dangers of perc, the chemical, and mentioned eco chemicals that are increasingly being used. One firm in London will go to great lengths to clean carefully - removing the buttons and sewing them back "invisibly", or even taking a garment apart and sewing it back together - at no small cost. The figures that stick in my mind are the woman who paid - ah this was in a New York establishment - $25,000 to have her $250,000 dress cleaned. And how enlightening to hear that some people spend £300 a month on dry cleaning!

Elegance

My photo of Jeanne Lanvin's bedroom (designed by Albert-Armand Rateau, completed 1928 and now in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris) doesn't do it justice - fortunately there are more and better photos available online - and of the wonderful bathroom too.

The shade of cornflower blue is known as Lanvin Blue and is said to be inspired by the sky in a Fra Angelico fresco. The collaboration with Rateau for redesign of her apartment, homes, and business began in 1922.

Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) - a milliner who married an Italian nobleman - made beautiful dresses for her daughter and from this evolved a famous Paris fashion house - indeed, an empire. She was formally recognized as a couturiere in 1909, and became one of the most influential designers of the 1920s and 30s, using intricate trimmings, virtuoso embroidery, and beads in clear, light, floral colours.

She is also well known for the perfumes My Sin and Arpège, developed in 1925 and 1927 - Rateau designed the bottle for Arpège, which was designed for Lanvin's daughter and presented to her on her 30th birthday.

The illustration on the bottle is by Paul Iribe, rendered in 1907, of Jeanne and Marguerite.

Gaultier details

Photography - without flash - is encouraged at the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition (Barbican Art Gallery till 25 August).

Beading adds je ne sais quoi to "men's underwear" mesh

Ostrich feathers, can you believe it?

Beads on denim

Beads, and more

Sequins, chenille, tartin, leather ...

Pearl buttons sewn into seams, exquisite

That's a mere sampling. The show knocked my socks off ... and I only went because a friend dragged me along!