Over two centuries of bridal fashion

Let me give you today a very special recommended plan: an exhibition that was opened last March at the Victorian and Albert Museum in London. Among its walls the luckiest readers who happen to live in London or around will be able to learn the history of the classical wedding dress since it became popular among brides-to-be in the end of the 18th century. I don’t live close enough but I’d really love paying a visit, so I’ll do so through your eyes.

The best designers over the year like Charles Frederick Worth, Norman Hartnell, Charles James, John Galiano, Christian Lacroix, Vivienne Westwood and Vera Wang will guide you with their over 70 designs through the evolution of this costume that will ever be fashionable: a wedding dress in pure white or in the most sensual ivory.

3 Silk satin wedding dress designed by Norman hartnell in 1933 - Victoria and Albert Museum London - Vintage By Lopez-Linares recommendation

The exhibition tells the astonishing story of each one of the 70 dresses, starting back in 1775 until today, and include new acquisitions like the purple dress worn by Dita Von Teese for her marriage with Marilyn Manson and the one worn by Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale on their wedding day.

Besides enjoying these pieces of art, the V&A Museum has planned events regarding the bridal collection. Evening talks, workshops or romantic concerts will give the show even more spectacular nature. If you want to know the upcoming events, go to Wedding Dresses 1775-2014: Events (just click over the link to go to the page straight away)

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I wish I could go for instance to the workshop with the award-wining writer Julie Cohen as a speaker, who will please the visitors with an introduction to basics of romantic writing. Or… Why not? Listening to the Britain’s most acclaimed fashion designer Bruce Oldfield. And my favorite workshop: Learning how to use a Victorian tiara, like a real queen would do.

The show will be opened until the next March 15th 2015, which means you, who live in the UK, have time enough to go for a visit, enjoy all its details and get amazed with each piece. And of course, I’ll be waiting for you to tell me your experience on comments! You’ll be my eyes…

Here’s the link to the website with more information about timetable and tickets availability. Enjoy your visit!

Wedding Dresses 1775-2014: Visitor & Ticket Information

Images source: Victorian and Albert Museum and Arabia Style Fashion

Out of Africa

“I had a house in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong hills…” just hearing this phrase already sounds like a melody to me.

I can’t speak about this film without getting emotional, i think I’ve seen it more than 20 times and there are some scenes that still give me butterflies in my stomach, exactly the same feeling as I had the first day I saw it. So romantic, so sad, so intense…

The film, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary, narrates the life of Karen Blixen, a Danish writer that arrives in Kenya at the beginning of the Twentieth Century to manage a plantation alongside her husband, an incurable womanizer, to whom she is married but doesn’t love.

The relationship that Karen establishes with Africa and its people; the striking contrast between the indigenous kikuyus against the forever strict British society in one of its colonies; and, above all, Karen’s love story with the hunter Denys Finch-Hatton, these are the main driving forces behind a simply charming film.

The winner of seven oscars, amongst which, the best film and the best director (Syndey Pollack), the film was enormously successful with the public, qualifying as a “masterpiece” and “unforgettable jewel”, making it an all-time cinema classic.

For me Meryl Streep, in her role as a high society Danish lady, is magnificent. I Iiterally fell in love with her from the the first minute and since then I don’t think I have ever missed a single film appearance by her.

Not only Karen but also the majority of women we see in the film fall in love with a Robert Redford that plays the role of an attractive, well-educated, charming and gallant with a touch of liberalism and adventure.

The photography is the work of David Watkin. For me the photography and the music are the strongest success points of the film. It seems as if we were watching a National Geographic report. The  journey made in Denys’ plane by the two of them from Nairobi to Mombasa flying over the hills of Kenya is absolutely breathtaking. Who hasn’t dreamt of a similar experience accompanied by someone very special in your life? I have, of course, although I don’t think I will ever manage to make it come true. I will stick to and cherish the scene from the film that makes me live it as though the journey were my own.

There are thousands of warming, romantic and emotional scenes. however, the scene that stays with me most of all is when, in a break from the Safari, Denys washes Karen’s hair using a sheet and the water runs through her soapy hair, meanwhile she closes her eyes, freeing herself to countless pleasurable sensations… it’s a simple scene with an enormous sensual charge.

A few days after being released in the cinema in 1906 I already had the soundtrack in my possession.it was a very special gift from someone who continues to be an essential part of my life. Since then, every time I listen to it I close my eyes and can feel the breeze, visualize the colour and the aromas of the hills of Ngong…it takes me to Kenia, transporting me to a different time, to live in another period…waking up incredible, intense and marvelous memories in me. It’s a soundtrack compiled by John Barry with a wide variety of melodies that seem to flow from the different places from where the work was filmed.

I have a 22 year old daughter who still hasn’t seen the film and I thought about giving it to her this month as a gift. I am extremely curious to know what impression the film will make upon her, given that she is nearly the same age as I was when I first saw the film. I am intrigued to know if the film that I consider to be a cinematic masterpiece will awaken the same feelings in a young girl of this century, as the ones that it awoke in me.

I will let you know…

Pretending to be…

I already told you in my January log that I’d started the year by attending a portrait workshop called “I love me”. The workshop is lead by Rebeca López from “Kisikosas”, and this was the workshop’s first edition, however Rebeca has already started a second, and I’m sure a third will come soon or later.

One month spent sharing moments with 15 women: Ampario, Araceli, Bea, Mima, Ira, Sara, Sylvia, Verónica, Eva, Beatriz, Karola, Maria José, Natalia and Eva. Some of them are highly recognised photographers, and to share this workshop with them for a whole month as friends and colleagues has been a real honour for me. We’ve shared doubts, concerns and moments filled with happiness and laughter… a lot of laughter.

The workshop is very personal, and aims to be more of an intimate meeting with your inner self than a mere photography course, originating from the creativity and way of expression that each of us carry within. From “I ♥ me” Rebeca’s objective is for us to speak out about ourselves, who we are, who we would like to be, what we like and don’t like, what we speak about and what we would never speak about.

The third week’s work was titled “Pretending to be…”

My idea was to represent the different characteristics of women in the Twenties. I decided that that week’s work would be to try and change my own expressions. I would use the same setting but every take would try to represent something different. A 20’s woman varying with every take.

Lo primero es identificar a la mujer de los locos 20s:

The first thing was to identify the Roaring Twenties woman:

The 20’s decade put the start of our emancipation into progress. The fact that in this decade, after a great battle, we gained the right to vote freely for the first time, liberated us from numerous ties to which we had been previously submitted.

The freedom of the vote came with freedom in many other areas. We managed to abandon the corsets, the complex and awkward hairstyles, the thick black tights and the ankle length skirts of the nineteenth Century, giving loose reign to a new woman. We passed from being submissive housewives to unarguable limelight stars at important social events. We started filling universities and we turned into Queens of the night. The big parties, jazz concerts, theatres and casinos were amongst some of the places where we let loose to our new lifestyle.

Smoking, driving fast cars, playing sports such as golf or tennis, dancing a Charleston or a tango were some of the activities that we had never even dreamed of doing, and of which, from this moment on, would turn into something compulsory for any woman that gave importance to being up to date on the latest trends.

After my small reflection on this Golden period I will leave my personal view and idea of the women from these years…

Submissive, innocent, sensual, shameless, promiscuous and sophisticated women…

I am lacking a lot of technique, I’ve been taking manual shots for barely three weeks. However, I wanted to share my vision of the Twenties with all of you, and above all, I wanted you to know about Rebeca’s work.

I hope you like it…