I hope it goes without saying that we would prefer it if the museum were open. Over the last week we’ve moved to remote working, updated the V&A website once or twice, and tried to carry on with as much of a semblance of normality as we can. We hope to have more updates for you on our plans as soon as we can, but in the meantime there are some things that the team have published this week that might be interesting to explore – and I’ll try to bring them together here.
Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk
If you don’t follow our YouTube channel you may have not have seen our film on Jotaro Saito, in which the designer discusses the inspiration he finds in the everyday – and his technique and process. Saito’s collections are still made using the traditional and extremely time-consuming method of hand-drawn yuzen dyeing, but his inspiration comes from the here and now.
We also have a quick look inside the show, as well as a truly close look at a spectacular outer-kimono (uchikake). This guided zoom is best viewed with your browser in full-screen mode.
World Theatre Day 2020
Celebrating #WorldTheatreDay we have the story of theatre told through the collections of the V&A (there is more from the Theatre & Performance collection here). This runs from the arrival of secular theatre following the Reformation in the 16th century right through to the National Video Archive of Performance.
Forgive me though – this recreation of an 18th-century mechanical theatre (made for our Opera exhibition in 2017) is wonderful.
V&A Collections
While we’re away, we’ll continue working on our collections content – providing new ways to explore them online. The latest additions are on Mary Quant and Eileen Gray. Mary Quant was of course the subject of our recent exhibition, and if you have a little time on your hands, then your Formal Friday need never be the same again.
Thanks Tom, it’s helpful to discover new ways of engaging with the collections, and uplifting to still feel connected to the Museum’s work.