Sunday, 28 August 2011

Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards

I love visiting the city of Bath, but hadn't been since last year and was well due a summer visit. When I found out about the Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards exhibition on at the Assembly Rooms I could not resist any longer. However, I only just managed to schedule my visit in time as sadly the exhibition's last day is tomorrow, 29th August! I did take a lot of photographs so I hope you will enjoy them. If you're so lucky as to live nearby or can hop on a train I really recommend a visit as it is a wonderful display and a treat to see the clothes from the movies we know so well!
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
I was most excited to see the costumes from The Duchess designed by Michael O'Connor, as worn by Keira Knightley as Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, Ralph Fiennes as the Duke, Charlotte Rampling as Countess Spencer, Hayley Atwell as Bess and Dominic Cooper as Charles Gray. I'd already seen the fox hat from the film in Stephen Jones's Anthology of Hats exhibition at the V&A and was not disappointed by the designs on display. It's such a shame I couldn't study them for my Rococo coursework project last year! No amount of essay writing could kill my love of Rococo and 18th century fashion though, so they're still a delight to see. One cannot beat the detailing that went into the dresses of the time, the little roses, the rows of bows and the layered sleeve cuffs- I adore it all!
Also on the Rococo front is a gorgeous red dress worn by Swoosie Kurtz as Madame de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons. Then some of you ladies might be a teensy bit excited about the costumes for Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner from the Pirates of the Carribean series! There's also another costume for the latter from Troy.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
The other costumes came from the following films: Death on the Nile, Hamlet, Henry V, The Last Emperor, Gladiator, Ben-Hur, Tess, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Restoration, A Room with a View, Howard's End, The King's Speech, Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare in Love, The Young Victoria and Elizabeth. See if you can spot them in my pictures!
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
The Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms at Bath fascinate me on every visit, so though it's a shame this exhibition isn't sticking round, as I really could have spent hours more taking in the clothes, I know it will be replaced with something wonderful. I will be sharing with you the rest of my visit it upcoming blog posts.
Dressing the Stars, British Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Assembly Rooms, Bath Fashion Museum.
Do you have a favourite film for costume design?
Posted by at 22:25
Labels:

3 comments:

Alex said...

Ooh what a fabulous post! Thanks so much Florrie, it's been a lovely treat to look at all these photos.

I rather loved The Changeling for costume design. Made me want to a) look as good as Angelina in a cloche and b) live in a time when men wore hats and overcoats.

28 August 2011 at 23:36
Cathie said...

I really enjoyed this post!! My favourites are actually the ones from the Duchess, and the Young Victoria. :)

Thank you for sharing these!

xoxo

-Cathie-

29 August 2011 at 00:59
Unknown said...

These are beautiful - what a stunning exhibition!

I loved all the costumes in The Duchess, so thanks for showing the photos up close!

29 August 2011 at 18:40

Post a Comment