City guides

Eyewear from Vintage to 2020

1st June 2013 Eyewear and fashion fans will truly appreciate this beautiful book – a visual journey through the history of 20th and 21st century eyewear design. Author Simon Murray has one of the largest private eyewear collections in the world – built up over decades of avid collecting around the globe. Co-author Nicky Albrechtsen is a costume designer and the owner of The Vintage Resource in London.

In addition to marvelous frame images, there are also fabulous photos of style icons wearing a variety of designs, plus posters and ads featuring spectacles. What could people be wearing into the 2020s? You’ll find a preview for the next decade and beyond. This stunning book is sure to be a collector’s item, and already has a special place in my library! Fashion Spectacles, Spectacular Fashion by Simon Murray and Nicky Albrechtsen, published by Thames & Hudson Ltd.www.thamesandhudson.com JG

Luxurious Fashion of Court Life

1st May 2013 The interest in what royalty wears is not a new phenomenon. In the 16th and 17th centuries, monarchs and their court were admired for their fashion sense and innovative style. For the Tudor and Stuart elite, luxurious clothing was an essential component of court life. Now this intriguing world can be explored in a stunningly curated exhibition – In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion – at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London. Garments and accessories – and the way in which they were worn – conveyed important messages about wealth, gender, age, social position, marital status and religion. The exhibition traces changing tastes in fashionable attire and the spread of fashion through the royal courts of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Exquisite portraits, drawings and prints from the Royal Collection are on display, along with rare surviving examples of clothing and accessories, that illustrates the style of the rich and famous of the Tudor and Stuart periods. In the portraits, high maintenance and impractical clothing provided a clear message to the viewer that the subject of the portrait enjoyed a privileged lifestyle, and had plenty of spare time to devote to the pursuit of fashion and the lengthy process of dressing.  The portrait above – by William Scrots of Elizabeth First when a princess (c1548) shows her wearing one of the most striking, yet invisible elements of Tudor fashionable dress – a hooped underskirt known as the ‘farthingale’, which created a distinctive conical shape.

Male fashions are on display too, and matched those of women in the luxuriousness of materials and complexity of design, and elements of masculine dress were adopted by women as well. Fashion accessories of the Tudor and Stuart period ranged from the quirky – a purse in the shape of a frog – to the ostentatious. Among the most important jewels were pearls, and the amazing ‘La Peregrina’ (The Wanderer) pearl, weighing 58.5 carats, the largest pearl in existence at the time of its discovery, was presented to Mary 1 by Philip 11 of Spain as a betrothal gift. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion is an enchanting voyage of both history and fashion. Opening on 10 May 2013 until 6 October 2013 at The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Tickets and visitor information: www.royalcollection.org.uk JG

Photos: Courtesy of The Royal Collection

An Aristocratic Fashion Legend

22nd April 2013 Emilio Pucci was an Italian Marquis, philosopher, and a dashing designer darling for socialites and fashionable women, with an amazing sense of style, colour and memorable prints. His little boutique on the idyllic Isle of Capri drew the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe to his doorstep. Nowadays, The House of Pucci fans include Victoria Beckham and a host of other stylish women, who love to wear Pucci’s contemporary designs in magical colours.

Taschen has published a beautiful book that traces the aristocratic roots of the charismatic designer, and how a tiny store owned by the family became an international brand. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and images from the Emilio Pucci Foundation. Author Vanessa Friedman has captured the essence of Pucci’s versatility, and his impact on fashion history. www.taschen.com JG

Designer Masterpieces at Paris City Hall

1st April 2013 The elegant surroundings of Paris City Hall celebrates haute couture with a dazzling selection of designs by fashion luminaries from Doucet to Dior, Chanel to Courrèges, and Vionnet to Yves Saint Laurent. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Galliera Museum in Paris and Swarovski, whose crystals have a long history with haute couture and designers. Over one hundred designs are featured – many of which have never been on public display before. Haute couture was born in Paris in the mid-19th century, and since then, generations of designers have transformed this supposedly frivolous discipline into high art.

What is amazing on viewing the gorgeous assemblage of outfits is to think of the talent and skills in the hands of the people who made the designs a reality – embroiders and plumassiers (feather workers); hands that knew exactly how and where to place or form a flower and other couture embellishments. The exhibition is a beautiful tribute to Haute Couture and provides insight into the behind the scenes process of world-famous fashion houses. The exhibition continues through 6 July 2013 at Paris City Hall, Saint-Jean Room, 5 rue Lobau, 75004 Paris. Open every day except Sundays and bank holidays, from 10h00 to 19h00. JG

Photos: Coutresy of Paris City Hall Top photo: Balenciaga Evening Outfit August 1967