When in London, head to the world’s biggest fashion museum, the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum (known as the V&A). Spanning four centuries, you can find rare 17th-century gowns, 1930’s eveningwear, 1960’s daywear and post-war couture.
You’ll see Betty Jackson, Katharine Hamnett, Wendy Dagworthy, John Galliano and other major Eighties design names, with outfits worn by Adam Ant and Leigh Bowery. Magazines like i-D and Blitz and London venues including Heaven and Taboo inspired the exhibition, which explores the New Romantic music/fashion explosion as well.
The inventiveness of London design owed much to the city’s art schools but also its club scene. John Galliano recalled, ‘Thursday and Friday at St Martin’s, the college was almost deserted. Everybody was at home working on their costumes for the weekend’. Designer Georgina Godley remembers, ‘Young London was all about taking risks and creating something out of nothing through passion and ambition’.
If you want to time-travel back even further, don’t miss the regular costumes on display. It’s the world’s biggest fashion museum and the V&A is just a few tube (train) stops away from the centre of the city, at South Kensington.
