I'll come right out and say that whilst I'm a fashion blogger by main definition, on the side I'm also a cantankerous London advocate and devotee as well. This blog is shamelessly London-centric and yes, the majority proportion of you guys haven't a clue what I'm banging on about half the time but I'll forge ahead still with my up-talking of London. When New Yorkers bang on about their city being the centre of earth, I'm not embarrassed to get hideously obnoxious when defending London. It's ugly stuff, city patriotism.
So, be prepared for gushing... a lot of gushing in fact, for what is probably the most awe-inspiring and magical exhibition that has hit London in a while. Kensington Palace has become the Enchanted Palace starting from tomorrow and will remain so for two years. Enough time to save up some pennies and visit London? Me thinks so... *nudge nudge wink wink*
It's a pretty radical move for the Historic Royal Palaces to raise funds for its £12 million renovation of Kensington Palace by making it utterly enchanted and enthralling. Together with Cornish theatre group Wildworks as its main collaborator who were responsible for the sets, actors and overall conception as well as a select group of fashion designers and creatives, the rooms known to history aficionados as say The Privy Chamber, the Cupola Room, the King's Gallery, the Council Chamber etc... have all been transformed and most of the rooms contain a princess' tale to be unlocked...
I basically started off with a bemused expression when a lady handed me a map and a stubby pencil, telling me that seven famous Princesses were hidden in the rooms of the palace and could be found via clues... and though I was too busy worrying about camera lighting to join the quest... my expression did change into that of a wide-eyed, O-shaped gaping mouth 6-year-old. I think increasingly I kept on exclaiming cornball Disneyland-ad things such as "This is MAGICAL!" and "Woooooow!" Actually I spotted more than a few 'serious' journos with these gaping mouth expressions and me thinks collectively, our inner child was being unleashed. Lord knows what will happen when ACTUAL children are let loose...
The slightly theme park aspect was aided by the presence of these grey-cloaked 'detectors' who throughout the tour, patrolled the rooms, hurried around saying nonsensical things to each other, read bedtime stories to an imaginary Queen Victoria and at one point picked up my camera case which I had dropped in a room and very sternly logged this incident in his special notebook (see left pic below).
Into the Room of Royal Sorrows... alright, it's sort of veeeeery obvious what room unearths which Princess/monarch so I'm just going to put it right out there. Hopefully I'm not going to be stoned by die-hard questers. So Queen Mary II's (1662-1694) failure to produce an heir inspired Aminaka Wilmont's creation draped across the bed. The crystal encrusted material looks almost like it has been tear-stained and the ensemble has also been accentuated by the table of tear-catcher jars.
Stephen Jones' millinery creations have been hung around the Room of Enlightenment, inspired by the 18th century busts of philosophers and scientists... Sir Issac Newton here... geddit?
The Room of Palace Time was the point where my mouth really dropped open. The original opulence of the room with its spectacular clock centre piece is now completely elevated and augmented by four Boudicca installation pieces that uses the timepieces of clockwork to work into 'dresses the colour of time'. The sculptural elements are instantly recognisable as Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby's distinctive silhouettes except the materials mirror that of clock parts. You sort of need to devote at least five minutes staring up at the ceiling...
On the Grand Staircase aka the Room of Flight, Princess Charlotte (1796 - 1817) inspired this Vivienne Westwood 'dress for a rebellious princess'... natural of course that the oft-18th-century-inspired Westwood should partake in this project and I love the way the dress is on the stairs, ready to flee at any moment...
No dresses or installations here but there is.... *fist pump* a throne where you sit in it, say something and it echoes all around you...
That's power for you man... when your voice is echoing...
Next up...another stunner courtesy of all rounder illustrator, window dresser and style maven Echo Morgan. Her amazing willow frame skirt dotted with decoupage bits and bobs clued us in...
...to her creation for the Room of the World. An 18th century paper mantua representing the world with a mix of collage and her own illustration... it takes a few up-close stares to get an idea of the amount of work that has gone into it...
Elsewhere in this worldly room is a cabinet of curiosities which actually does require a good 10-20 minutes worth of investigation as every door and drawer opens up to reveal a mix of contemporary art pieces and historical palace collections that have been curated by Echo. She's done a stupendous job of commissioning and putting together this assembly of pieces that I think I will revisit just to grab all the names and do further research. All these collector tendencies refer to Queen Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737) own collecting habits.
The first room may have been called the Room of Royal Sorrows but it was in the Room of Dancing Princesses where you felt the most melancholic. Princess Margaret and Princess Diana's dresses are displayed in the least gimmick-ridden room...
Queen Victoria's bedroom (this was the room where a young Victoria was told that she was to be queen... ) has been given a Princess and the Pea-style bed with letters and books strewn all over the place leading the pièce de résistance in the corner. William Tempest has created an origami dress that seemingly disappears into nothing. The room is actually lit up in a deep blue but I had to use the flash to find out what sort of paper Tempest had used for the dress.
If you get freaked out by children's voices speaking in quiet tones, then don't go into the Room of Lost Childhood. I quite enjoyed the display of pieces from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection including ickle baby shoes, teensy kid gloves and tiny booties...
10,000 toy soldiers all lined up in the Gallery of War and Play... the only bit that is relatively 'boyish'.
The final princess in unearthed in the Room of Quarrels where Queen Anne (1665-1714) fell out with Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and you get an audio re-enactment of the quarrel...
Finally in the Gallery of Dancing Shadows, all seven princesses are revealed to you in a bank of mirrors where their images flicker on and off and across the ceiling, the freakily magical shadows of the princesses come dancing...
Ok, so admittedly, there are heavy-doses of Disney-esque fun ladled out in the exhibition which personally for me is half the fun. Still, the fact remains that this quest, the tales of the Princesses reside in a palace steeped in history and that's what made this a real treat for me. Wildworks respected the palace and without building overwrought sets, augmented the existing rooms with lighting and sound effects and of course the collaborations with the designers that also contributed to an exhibition that will appeal beyond history nuts and parents with kids on half-term hols.
I've veered way off fashion-turf probably but hey, anything to get some of you to at least try and check this exhibition out whilst it's on. There are two loooong years to do so!
