Apparently you can sometimes buy a photographic license when you visit a museum, that is pay a bit more to have permission to take pictures. Bill pointed this out to me when we went to the Museum of Decorative Arts. This was our first venture out alone; the others we were with -- his sister and her husband and their friends from Canberra -- were on a bus tour of some kind or looking at more churches and castles. I was so pleased he did, as I got really good value for my 80 Koronas (Kc) (about £2.50 or $4.00) -- about 160 pictures.
I knew I would love the place, as one of my very favourite places in London is the Victoria & Albert Museum. Mind, it's not because I'm such an intellectual that dusty old museums enthral me. It's that decorative arts museums are about clothes, needlework, furniture and other household goods; it's about how I might (or probably not) have lived in another time and place. It's a collection of the most beautiful artifacts of a given culture. My first experience of this was probably 20 years ago when I visited the Smithsonian in Washington DC -- or, I should say, some small part of the 19 museums. I best remember the Hope diamond and all the glittering stuff around it and the exhibit of all the First Ladies' Inaugural gowns. [Completely aside, did you realise that Smithson was a Brit who sent his money to the US? Neither did I]. Anyhow, when I spotted this Prague museum in Jane's tourist guide, I knew I wanted to go. Fortunately, Bill likes this sort of stuff as well.
It's impossible to show you all that I loved in this stunning place, though I'm tempted to try! For this post, I'll just stick with the clothing exhibit. From what I recall it was mainly wedding or wedding-associated dresses from the early 1900s through to the early 2000s.
I took pictures of nearly all, but I'm just sharing the ones I especially liked. Actually, I really liked something about most of the dresses: if not the whole thing -- as in, where can I buy one -- then the intricate stitching, the drape or texture of the fabric, or some clever detail. It's also interesting to note when corsetry fell out of common use.
I remember this black dress had a story. It was made with very specific instructions from the woman who wanted it for her wedding.
But in the end, that wedding did not take place.
Maybe he didn't like the idea of a black wedding dress...I wonder if that was her intent?
1 comment:
These dresses are gorgeous, and the details are remarkable. (Any more pictures of the shoes?)
Post a Comment