By Destiny Crawford-Corri
“Vulgarity exposes the scandal of good taste.” – Adam Phillips
Vulgar has quite a few different meanings, it could mean indecent, crude, coarse, unrefined etc.. However this isn’t what it originally meant; Vulgar comes from the Latin word Vulgus, which translates to common people, and Vulgare which means to make public or common. It was first used in english to describe a person or language as ordinary and familiar. However this turned into an insult and negative word pretty quickly.
Keeping all of that in mind I was very excited to see that the Barbican had put on a fashion exhibition centred around this. The exhibition was curated by exhibition- maker Judith Clark and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and supported by Agent Provocateur. There are over 120 exhibits starting from the renaissance right through to the 21st century; these include ready to wear, historic dress, photography, film and couture. Designers included: Pam Hogg, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Maison Margiela, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Zandra Rhodes, Alexander McQueen and many more.
We were invited on 12th October to the media view. While walking around the exhibition I noticed that there were a few of the designers present including Zandra Rhodes. She was absolutely lovely even leaving where she was originally going to take us back to where her pieces were so we could get a picture of her with it. She was really chatty and was very interested in what we were doing with the magazine.
I really enjoyed this exhibition; it was so well thought out and the pieces were creatively displayed. A few of my favourite pieces were: Schiaparelli handprinted evening dress, Court Mantua, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton shoes, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel knitwear ensemble, Agent Provocateur Varvarra Playsuit and Pam Hogg Bodysuit Future past/War and Peace Collection.
If you have some time I’d recommend definitely going to see this exhibition and it’s on until 5th February 2017.