THE GOLDEN AGE OF COUTURE

THE GOLDEN AGE OF COUTURE: PARIS & LONDON 1947-57
7 December 2008 - 22 March 2009

From the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, this exhibition explores one of the most glamorous and remarkable decades in fashion history. Starting with the impact of Christian Dior’s New Look after the Second World War, it looks at the work of Dior and his contemporaries during the period when haute couture was at its height.


John French, Model Susan Abraham 1953,
©V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum


Exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

‘A golden age seemed to have come again’. Christian Dior, 1948

Bendigo Art Gallery is proud to announce an outstanding exhibition for Summer 2008-09. The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957, organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum London, will be presented in Victoria exclusively at Bendigo Art Gallery.

The exhibition explores one of the most glamorous and remarkable decades in fashion history. Starting with the impact of Christian Dior’s New Look after the Second World War, it looks at the work of Dior and his contemporaries during the period when haute couture was at its height.

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the launch of the New Look in 1947, the exhibition shows how Dior’s ballerina-skirted dresses signalled the return to luxury and elegance after wartime austerity. It examines the world of couture, highlighting the work of Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain in Paris and their London counterparts Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies. Other successful designers of the time - such as Fath, Griffe, Stiebel, and Michael of London - feature in a broad survey of the decade.

More than 100 dresses will be on display including daywear, cocktail and evening dresses made for society and royalty alongside photographs by Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon and original Hollywood and documentary film. There will be audio recordings, textiles and archival material such as bills of sales and letters. More than 95 per cent of the dresses are from the V & A’s own fashion collections.


Balenciaga dress, c1955.
Scarlet silk and silk taffeta.
© V&A Images /Victoria and Albert Museum

Bendigo Art Gallery
V & A




5 hours drive was a long time to and return from Bendigo. We won’t even believe we had to wait 30mins outside the gallery due to the crowd. It was quite organized inside and not pushing at least. So many gorgeous dresses by Christian Dior from the 50s. I wish I could spend more time there.







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