.. but enough about me!

Over the weekend I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum to check out their ‘Baroque 1620-1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence‘ and ‘Hats: An Anthology‘ exhibitions.

Firstly, to anyone thinking of going, a word of warning – wear comfortable shoes. We spent over 2 hours in the Baroque collection and it could have easily been longer if our heels hadn’t started to hobble us! It was worth the pain however, with sections devoted to art, performance, architecture and outdoor spaces and the religious use and cultural impact of the first style of design to have global reach.

The exhibition also includes music from the period to add an evocative context to some of the pieces, making it a very well thought out show. If you’re in town it’s definitely worth a look!

The Hats exhibition is much easier on the feet but still worthy of a good bit of time, we felt we’d rushed it going round the whole collection in just over half an hour. Had we had access to the centrepiece – a recreation of Stephen Jones’ milliner’s workroom which he describes as ‘half Aladdin’s cave and half artist’s studio’ – we’d probably still be there now, digging out treasures and playing with the hats and masks! I only managed to get one sneaky photo all day and it was of this – not amazing quality, if only I’d had the Renoir with me! – but I’m rather chuffed I can share a bit of it with you:

For more photos of the hats themselves, check out DisneyRollerGirl’s post on the exhibition’s press day and there are videos of the press/launch events on the V & A’s Vimeo channel:

Millinery in action: making a hat in the Stephen Jones workroom from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

There is also a paper hat design  – by Stephen Jones with a step-by-step guide from origami specialist Nick Robinson – you can download and personalise in the V&A’s ‘My Beautiful Paper Hat’ section if you feel inspired. Personally, I’m having to resist the urges to put all work on hold and set up a hat workshop, or buy all the hats on offer in the museum’s shop!