Vogue 100: A Century of Style

Hello my lovelies,

Sorry for not posting for a whole week even though I said on my instagram that I would (Bad Ameesha). For this week I am aiming to post Monday (today) to Thursday and chill over the Easter break with my family.

Last month saw the launch of a highly anticipated exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Vogue 100: A Century of Style celebrating British Vogue's 100th Birthday, it draws on the extensive collection of archived imagery spanning from 1916 (the first issue of BV) to current day. The exhibition is running from 11th February - 22nd May 2016.

 

Some of the photography has never even published therefore has been stored in Conde Nast archive, the extensive collection of photography shows the who's who of fashion, beauty and celebrity culture of the 20th Century with most of the iconic footage by celebrated photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Bruce Weber, Lee Miller, Irving Penn and Mario Testino, to name a few.

Located at the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalger Square the nearest tube is Charing Cross
which is right next to Nelson's column remember to say hi to him, okay? I went with one of my university friends who is always dressed to impress and never fails, you can find her 'here'.
We suggest that you book your tickets online as getting them on the day it may be sold out it was particulary busy for a Wednesday afternoon (16/03) when we went. We also got student discount but we did have to pay a transaction fee but who's complaining!

I am glad I went to the exhibition and I recommend anybody who loves fashion, beauty, celebrities or just good plain old art and it is a temporary exhibition so I would hop to it! I first new about the exhibition when I watched a video on YouTube of Neelam Gill walking the viewer through the exhibition and then my close friend Emma went with her buddies from back home and I was like I have to go and see this for myself. It was well worth the trip into central London.

 

The exhibition is curated to work in reverse chronology starting with the magazine today and moving back through the decades to the very first published issue in 1916, which I didn't know until I read the leaflet they gave us - always read the leaflet!!

Also, before visiting the exhibition I watched a lot of YouTube videos and read a couple of articles etc. on Vogue, Alexander McQueen, Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington and it made me understand the exhibition more and why there is one. I am not saying you should do the same, but if it interests you, why not?

 

Sadly, photography is not permitted in the exhibition, but I had an itch to take photos and couldn't walk away with not taking any. If you know me well you know I like taking pictures of absolutely anything, I love photography it's an electronic memory that I can look back to any time I want and I am sorry but the gifts from the gift shop do not suffice.

They also have a gift shop funnily enough, they sell an exclusive range of items inspired by the exhibition, and of course me being me nearly bought the entire shop! I bought: 4 postcards (80p each), Vogue 100 Highlights book (£14.95), Vogue covers plastic folder (£3), 2 fridge magnets, one for me and one for my sister (£4 each) and a Vogue 100 keyring because I collect them (£9). The image below is of a box of biscuits with icings of previous Vogue covers.

We also went to the Portrait Cafe after to get nibbles, I didn't really like what they had to offer - basic coffee shop food, but way more expensive. So I just got the last piece of Victoria Sponge cake. The cafe was nicely decorated and had images hung up for sale from the Vogue exhibition, mostly likely reproductions.