Glossary

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A Museum) is located in London whose purpose is to enable everyone to enjoy its collections and explore the cultures that created them; and to inspire those who shape contemporary design.

All our efforts are focused upon a central purpose - the increased use of our displays, collections and expertise as resources for learning, creativity and enjoyment by audiences within and beyond the United Kingdom.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has collected dress since its earliest days. The collection covers fashionable dress from the 17th century to the present day, with the emphasis on progressive and influential designs from the major fashion centres of Europe. The V&A collections also include accessories such as jewellery, gloves and handbags.

Among the fashion themed study resources at the V&A Museum are:

(1) The fashion photography collection which includes a comprehensive selection of fashion photographs with key images of fashion from the 1910s to 2001. Influential photographers working in fashion, including Sir Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, David Bailey and William Klein, are represented. Photographs by contemporary practitioners including David Sims, Nick Knight and Elaine Constantine are also available in the Print Room for the visitors to see.

(2) Fashion Prints - The Print Room is a fantastic resource for studying fashion. There are prints made specially to record and promote fashion with an extensive collection of fashion plates and illustrations from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including many examples of advertisements, posters and carrier bags. There is also an extraordinarily diverse body of material which serves as evidence of historical costume: from 15th and 16th century church brass rubbings, through 18th and 19th century caricatures, to portraits and general scenes covering a wide cross-section of society and people at work and at leisure, from the 16th to the present day.

(3) The fashion designs collection which contains original works from the 1860s to 1990s. The collection is particularly strong in 1970's designs including works by Jean Muir, Zandra Rhodes and Bill Gibb. The works are mainly by British designers but do include international designers such as Paquin and Oleg Cassini. Drawings for fashion illustrations and accessories (from shoes and hats to belts and T-shirts) are also part of this collection.

There is also an exhibition for Radical Fashion and eleven (11) world-renowned contemporary fashion designers were invited to collaborate with the Victoria & Albert Museum to create the unique installations which make up the exhibition.
Among those included in the fashion installations for radical fashion are the works of some of the best fashion designers in the world , such as Azzedine Alaia, Hussein Chalayan, Rei Kawakubo, Helmut Lang, Jean Paul Gaultier, Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen, Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Vivienne Westwood, and Yohji Yamamoto

Let us go and visit the museum:

V&A South Kensington
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 2000

website: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/contact-us