Valentino in Brisbane – now!

I have just been to the preview of the Valentino Retrospective at the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art.  It is spectacular- you can’t miss this.

  The dresses are exquisite and they are displayed beautifully.  You can get up close to them and see the intricate detail and the incredible amount of work involved in putting together a haute couture gown.  Couture is a word that is thrown around with abandon.  Valentino is true couture.  The gowns are sewn by hand and hundreds of hours have gone into each garment.    It is hard to pick a favourite.  I loved the gowns from the sixties, and the floral collection, and the black, and the red.  There is a beaded black dress with (we counted them) at least 1,000 perfectly sewn half circles sewn around the skirt to form a kind of ruffle.  I know how much work would be involved in this – it is perfect.

There are dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jaqueline Kennedy, Nan Kempner, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchet – the list goes on.  Any one of the gowns could be worn today, they are timeless.

Go to the Gallery to see this beautiful exhibition.  It opens on Saturday 7th August and is in the Gallery until 14th November 2010.  It is going nowhere else in Australia.  Buy a season ticket and go often. 

www.qag.qld.gov.au

PS

I have been several times to the exhibition since it opened, I can’t get enough of it.  The Gallery has set up a cafe in the space between to 2 exhibition rooms – a great place to take a break and discuss the gorgeous gowns.