V&A Ballgowns

I had such a lovely and very girly day out last weekend. I went to London with my three sisters in law and mother in law to check out the new Ballgowns:British Glamour Since 1950 exhibition at the V&A.  

It was nice to see London again and on such a gorgeous sunny day. In true London tourist style we took a black taxi to the museum from where we parked.

The exhibition was a mixture of old and new couture dresses. Such a variety of styles that, at first glance, what you may have suspected was a dress worn in the last few years was often from the 50s or 60s. So many of the dresses were made especially for celebrity events or royalty. These events evolved from the more private charity balls of the 50s to the more public red carpet events.

I particularly loved a black lace gown by Michael Sherard with a dipping hemline from 1958. One dress was intricately embroidered with words and pictures of a story and another made from pieces of silver leather. Such diverse designs and amazing details – it was fantastic to see these dresses so close up.

Lunch in the V&A's cafe was delicious and all around you were period mirrors, marble, tiling, huge stained glass windows and high ceilings and these fantastic lights: 

Of course we took a trip to the shop and I wanted to buy all the brooches, printed scarfs and jewellery I saw. Not to mention some great prints, this 'Time for Tea' was definitely my favourite. This was a great retro style print of Crystal Palace too. There were also lots of brilliant London-themed gifts for children; this London Ladybird book was so sweet:

The exhibition is running until January 2013.

It was a real day of girly glamour and an escape for us mums with a day to ourselves. We finished it off with a trip to Primark for a few bargains!! Not quite the silk, handmade couture dress of my dreams but I did find a maxi dress to fit perfectly over my ever growing baby bump!

Has anyone else been to this exhibition? What did you think?

Love Lemon x