Celebrating the creative explosion that began life in some seriously dingy clubs (with some seriously un-dingy outfits), the V&A’s exciting new expo, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the1980s will explore the impact of underground club culture turned high fashion runway glamour with every fishnet-stocking-clad step in between.
More than 85 outfits by fashion’s movers and shakers such as John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett will be on display while the mezzanine gallery will focus on club wear, taking in the weird and wonderful worlds of fetish, goth, rave, high camp and of course, new romantics. These Blitz kids were hot stuff in their day and went on to become some very stylish household names – Boy George, Adam Ant, Pete Burns and Isabella Blow to name just a few.
The exhibition will also explore the significant role of the fashion and culture magazines of the time such as The Face, i-D and Blitz, and how they captured and propagated the scene, and in turn, the looks, bringing them to a wider audience. Who knew gimp masks and lipsticked boys could be so educational? Club to Catwalk will run until 16 February 2014, so get down there and dress to impress.