A new display at the Fashion Museum called “Top Trends” shows how the top fashion looks of Autumn/Winter 2011/12 can be achieved by looking back at fashions of the past.
Six fabulous new ensembles have gone on display at the museum – housed in the Assembly Rooms in Bennett Street, Bath – and each one profiles the latest “must have” look found in fashion magazines and on the high street this season. Whether it’s the “Shine” trend, or the “Androgynous” look, the fashion for “Jewel Colours” or even for “Fetish”, all the top catwalk styles are on display at the Fashion Museum this winter.
But the difference here is that rather than clothes from current fashion designers and high street retailers, all the fashions on display at the Fashion Museum are historical pieces from the museum’s Designated collection, all styled imaginatively and given a new lease of life and a look that is 100% “now”.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “By looking to the past Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum has brought the displays right up to date, and at the same time given an important message that fashion can be interpretative and personal to the individual.
“Visitors can see six top fashion looks for this autumn/winter, and all have been put together using historical fashions from the Fashion Museum collection. Essentially these are ‘vintage’ clothes – a trend which has become so prevalent in fashion in recent years. But the aim too is to show how fashion is about styling and personal choice, about putting a look together yourself so as to follow the catwalk trend of the day.”
One of the most popular trends this autumn/winter – particularly for the festive party season – is shown in the display at the museum labelled “Glittering Prizes” and shows visitors how to achieve pop star glamour with a sparkling mix of lurex, lamé, sequins and high shine fabrics. Designers showing this look at the moment include Stella McCartney, Moschino and Balmain.
The “Top Trends” fashion looks at the Fashion Museum feature a mixture of styles and periods, all assembled so as to be right on trend for the Autumn/Winter 2011/12 season. So, a 1950s leopard skin clutch plus a silver sparkle 1960s coat dress (finished off with a pair of Topshop Perspex platform strappy shoes from last season) equals “fashion now!”
All of the exhibits in “Top Trends” are original and form part of the Fashion Museum’s world-class museum collection of historic and contemporary dress.
The Fashion Museum is open daily from 10.30am to 4pm (exit 5pm). For more information visit http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk or call 01225 477789.
