In the Dolls House

Tonight I finally got to the Viktor and Rolf exhibition, and quite by accident…last minute I arranged to meet Josef from Pollocks at the Barbican, for what he mysteriously labeled an ‘event’; I found myself be-plimsoled and make-up bare at what turned out to be a late night showing of the exhibition, themed as a dolls party.

Late night events take place at the Barbican every Thursday I believe, and this Dolls party invited folk to dress up as dolls and come eat cake and drink tea after milling around the exhibition. People really went to town with this theme and there were some amazing ‘dolls’ wandering around; the effort put in was really quite outstanding and would beat any East London fashion party. What was particularly wonderful was the variety of people, young, old from all walks of life it seemed, all dressed as dolls with icing on their fingers.

How I wished I could have partaken in this fancy dress! I have some amazing eyelashes that are totally doll, and think of the make-up fun?! I, however, looked like a scruff, but I soon got distracted by the exhibition itself.

The House of Viktor and Rolf has a fairly small but perfectly utilized showing space. A massive dolls house towers up in the middle of the room with freaky china dolls placed on each level. Their outfits are direct replicate of the catwalk and apparently their hair is real and dyed to exactly match that of the model who walked in it.

We were then treated to the full size versions of each look, and it is cleverly separated into seasons with tapes of the shows running in the background. Their designs are art themselves, which is perhaps why this translated so well into an exhibition.

What I particularly like about their designs is the way that the clothes take over; the clothes wear the models, not the other way around. This is magnified by a multitude of special lighting effects in the shows as well as the clothes themselves.

I really could go on all night, but my bed (and a 3rd cup of tea) beckons. I will just end by saying that I found it a very inspiring evening, and I fully recommend anyone who can to go and see it before it ends 21st September. I think I myself will try and go again and even pay the £6 in my poverty to do so. I was wary of security and didn’t take photos of the exhibition itself, but here are some shots of the tea party goers.