Classic gowns designed by some of the most famous names in world couture will be going on display at the world famous Fashion Museum in Bath throughout this year.
They include Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior, as well as Yves St Laurent, Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb and Alexander McQueen.
The Great Names of Fashion exhibition at the Bath & North East Somerset Council-run Fashion Museum will run from Saturday, 31st January onwards.
The new gallery display will showcase some 20 works by these stellar designers – principally glamorous evening dresses worn by some of the leading personalities of their day.
Councillor Ben Stevens (Lib-Dem, Widcombe), the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Fashion is not just about the clothes we wear, what’s in and what’s out, it’s also the story of originality and master craftsmanship in cloth.
“Fashion is made up of beautiful fabrics, great design and inventive ideas, all realised in 3D by supremely talented and skilled men and women.
“This is what the Fashion Museum collection is all about: beautiful, exquisite, clever, inventive, astounding, amazing, intriguing items of dress, created by master craftsmen and women, whether in couture houses, tailoring and dressmaking workshops, or at home with needle and thread.”
Fashion Museum Manager, Rosemary Harden, said: “In every area of human endeavour there are ‘big hitters’ such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh, J S Bach and Beethoven, George Best and Pele.
“The Fashion Museum displays next year are about the work of the biggest names in fashion: Dior and Balenciaga, Lucile and Lanvin, Schiaparelli and Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent and Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb and Alexander McQueen.
“The work of these leading designers in fashion history is right here, right now in Bath, at the Council’s Fashion Museum, for everybody to see.”
The Fashion Museum is located in the Grade 1-listed Georgian Assembly Rooms in the Upper Town in Bath, near to the Royal Crescent in Bath.
