London Report: Erdem and the V&A Democratize Fashion

The Victoria and Albert Museum has been prying open the world of high fashion since the 1999 launch of their Fashion in Motion in series. Several times a year, the museum sets up a makeshift runway in its monumental Raphael Room, staging fashion shows (which are open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis) featuring designers like Roksanda Illincic, Giles Deacon, Christian Lacroix, Vivienne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

This time around it was Erdem Morialiaglu who brought a retrospective of his work to the Raphael Room. His clothes were presented in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent first, so we were treated to the ultra-feminine, heavily-embroidered, Japaneses-inspired, 3-D florals and richly-textured, cutout-lace-over-duchesse-satin baby doll dresses ending with his more Victorian-inspired floor-length gowns and, of course, the prints for which he is so famous from seasons past.

It's so cool/fun/interesting to see the museum-going families taking seats in the front row across the aisle from people like Sarah Mower. "It's really democratic fashion, it's open to the general public, whoever wants to come can totally come," said Erdem after the show, "You just have to book a ticket, it's free, it's kind of almost making this really closed world, really open.  It's great."  

Watch the show here.

Photo from catwalking.com.