A day in the life of a designer..
The Magnificence of the Czars and the constellation of Aquarius.
Twenty years ago, I met my friend Michelle on a bus in Russia. Twenty years is a long time, so we thought we should really celebrate with a suitably Russian event. First of all, we thought we would go to a Russian restaurant but even in London this wasn’t easy to organise! So, we decided to go and see “The magnificence of the Czars” at the Victoria and Albert museum and then pop along to South Kensington for a Polish meal and some good old vodka.
The exhibition was fab, such incredible opulence and wonderful workmanship. My favourite things included a pair of knitted stockings with a thistle pointelle detail, from the British Isles and a short woollen jacket, which was supposedly wet, weather gear and belonged to a gentlemen called Mr Smith.
I was intrigued, who was this Mr Smith, who was working as a coachman at the Russian Court? I hope to God, that he was never caught out in the rain in this completely unsuitable jacket!
The exhibition had attracted an impressive line up of visitors, including designers and artists: Jasper Conran, Laurence Llewelyn – Bowen, Nicky Haslem and Grayson Perry. So it will be interesting to see how the exhibition influences their work.
There were some beautiful copies of pieces from the Muslim art exhibition in the museum shop and some wonderful hats, that Michelle and I wanted to buy. But after looking at the price tags, all we came away with was a pair of turquoise diamante star earrings for Michelle, as she was going to a fancy dress as the constellation of Aquarius (Random, but apparently it was a success!)
After all that culture, of course we needed nourishment so it was off to the polish restaurant for huge plates of herrings, goulash and potato pancakes.
Posted at 11:02AM Jun 11, 2009 by Long Tall Sally Admin in "Carol" Comments (0)
