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1920s glitz and glamour at the Fashion and Textile Museum
In a new exhibition, the brilliant fashions of the Jazz Age take centre stage alongside a stellar selection of photographs
Think of Jazz Age fashion, and fringed flapper dresses and elaborate eveningwear will be among the first things to spring to mind. A new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London will re-examine the trends of the era, showcasing not just the glittering haute couture styles but the everyday clothing available to women of the time.
1920s Jazz Age: Fashion and Photographs, opening on 23 September, brings together more than 150 garments and accessories from a major private collection that spans sportswear, daywear, kimonos and silk pyjamas, in addition to beautiful handmade beaded dresses, velvet capes and other high-end pieces. It will trace the changing silhouettes in the post-war period, as hemlines got shorter and shapes became straighter and less restrictive. It will also explore how the styles have been interpreted for a modern audience, featuring the intricate crystal gown worn by Carey Mulligan in the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
(Image credit: Copyright (c) Mary Evans Picture Library 2015https://copyrighthub.org/s0/hub1/creation/maryevans/MaryEvansPictureID/10223907)
"In the 1920s, women's fashion became a bellwether of the social and cultural changes that defined the decade," says Dennis Nothdruft, curator of the exhibition. "The dizzying array of choices – and not just the tubular drop-waist dress immediately associated with the era – allowed the modern woman unprecedented opportunities to express herself."
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The exhibition pays homage to the influence of cinema in the period. Visitors will start in a movie theatre playing silent film clips, which then leads to the main gallery, designed to evoke the feel of a film sound-stage, where the clothes will be presented in ten scenes that follow the journey of a fashionable woman of the time from day to night.
Additional displays will give further insight into how art and culture both informed and reflected fashion. A special display of work by photographer-to-the-stars James Abbe, curated by photo historian Terence Pepper, will feature portraits of celebrities such as Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and Fred and Adele Astaire, taken in his studio and on location for movies and theatre productions. Additionally, iconic images from other preeminent photographers including Cecil Beaton, Man Ray and Baron Adolph de Meyer will be shown, along with the distinctive illustrations of Gordon Conway.
1920s Jazz Age: Fashion and Photographs is at the Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF, from 23 September 2016 to 15 January 2017; ftmlondon.org
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