After 4 days of being on the go, go, go and fuelled by the summer sunshine, the tide turned slightly today. It rained late last night, but fortunately, only overcast with sunny spots for today, so I wasn’t deterred from going out. Heck! I’m from Vancouver. We know a little something about rain!
I started my day at the Tower of London. (something nice and light) and for all its tragic history: the fire that destroyed the castle and constant re-building, countless deaths, tyranny, diabolical scandals and political intrigue, it quite felt like being at Disneyland.
I’m sure the predecessors would probably more than balk at this now theme park. I wanted to preserve in my mind, the significance of this historical site in the place of British history, by appreciating the building and grounds itself on the outside, and not pay the absurd admittance charge to gawk inside.
When you can see a man’s pin-stripped shirt hung up in clear view of what is now an administrative office window, it kind of ruins the authenticity of being a place where Anne Boleyn entered the tower by moat, at the traitors gate, to await her fate. I wonder had I gone in, would I hear all the history being whispered to me through the walls or perhaps all that I’d hear would be the construction men, coming and going, hammering and sawing, as they fix up the southeast outer perimeter wall?
I walked over Tower Bridge on my way to the Design Museum at Shad Thames, situated in a little out of the way part of London. This is one of those specialty museums that I’d happily pay £8.50 to enter. It’s important to me to be a supporter of innovation and new works.
One floor featured one of UK’s most influential architect, Richard Rogers. His high profile projects include the Millennium Dome and the headquarters for Lloyds of London. You know how you walk into a sales office of a new development, be it a condo, loft or corporate building, and you get to see a model of what it’ll look like after construction? Now imagine a huge room of this. The innovative design and the complex detailing of these models was quite the sight to see.
But the top floor was the reason for me going. There was a comprehensive overview of UK fashion photographer Tim Walker’s gorgeous and evocative images. This man is amazing. His images are imaginative and exuberant, having been featured in UK Vogue, W magazine and Vanity Fair. There are many note-worthy fashion photographer’s work I admire, but it’s Tim Walker’s vision that I think, is incomparable. Truly stunning and inventive.
Continuing the trend du jour of specialty museums, I went to Embankment Galleries at Somerset House. This launch of the gallery in this historic space will be known to host only exhibitions covering architecture, art, design, fashion and photography. The exterior of the building and grounds has a royalty/parliament/judicial feel to it. It is heritage, not modern, and therein lies the dichotomy. There’s a huge courtyard once you enter the outer perimeter and its here, Somerset House put on summer concerts. Too bad I’m not here for Britpop’s The Fratellis first week of July. Also, on early mornings, there are tai chi classes in the courtyard.
The exhibit that I went to see was Skin+Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture, organized by Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. At this exhibit, you can see how clothing and buildings have echoed each other in form and appearance. The inter-weaving between the two disciplines further became apparent as advances in materials technology and computer software helped buildings become more fluid and fashion more architectonic; each adapting the others’ principles, concepts and strategies for cutting edge design. But before I start sounding too technical and professor-y, all that is needed for Skin+Bones, is a love and admiration for idea and execution.
Pics from the Wallpaper website:
I was up close to the haute couture designs. They weren’t behind glass and I could get respectfully close enough, that if I breathed heavily, the fabric would flicker and respond. I could see every fold, every stitch, every seam. It took all my will power to resist the temptation to touch.
Here, in front of me were the runway haute couture designs that I’d only see on Fashion TV or Womens Wear Daily: Viktor+Rolf, Junyo Watanabe, Yohji Yamamoto, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Issey Miyake, Commes des Garcons and the famous Hussein Chalayan’s laser dress, containing over 200 lasers and Swarovski crystals. The lasers are affixed to brass hinges, moved by small servo motors, and creates a laser matrix, emitting away from the wearer. It was displayed behind a black window, beams on and signage instructing exhibitees not to look directly at the multitude of lasers. But my most favourite has to be the jaw-dropping outfits from Boudicca’s brave new world collection.
The architecture side of the exhibit was either displayed as photographs or 3D models: Lars Spuybroek’s Maison Folie in France, Toyo Ito and Associates’ forum for music, dance and visual culture in Belgium (makes me want to go to Belgium to see it in person),the Gehry House in Santa Monica and the Gehry Partners’ IAC building in New York. The 2 level exhibition was grouped by geometry, volume, construction, reconstruction, deconstruction, wrapping, pleating, draping, weaving, folding, cantilever and suspension.
At the end of the day, I am, as ever, continually amazed by all the ideas out there in the world. I think that’s why although I love nature and appreciate being in the country for relaxation and regeneration of the spirit, I’ll always be a city girl. For it is in the city, the hotbed of ideas and inspiration mainly takes place. And since I live in my head a lot, cities are the best places for me.
View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.
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