I went to see this exhibition created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Browns today and it exceeded expectations. The ground-breaking history of Browns is widely known – established in 197o by the now legendary Joan Burstein and her husband , it was the first boutique to offer fashion in a totally innovative way and to bring to Britain international designers unfamiliar even to the fashion-buying public. She was also responsible for launching the careers of Donna Karen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen, to name an elite few. The exhibition is staged on the first two floors of a large block off Carnaby Street, London W1, which are due to become offices. It is spacious and light, with limed wood floors and a great selection of mainly dresses lent by owners and illustrated with really incredible photography by Paolo Riversi. There is archive material of early Browns lookbooks and a collaboration with Vogue in which Browns featured in double page black and white spreads which are dispayed as giant blow up pages. I loved it and really recommend you should try and see it if you can before it closes on 30th May.
The legendary Mrs Brown herself
Two of Nicholas Kirkwood’s amazing shoes
A early Brown’s lookbook
Alexander Wang
Hussien Chalayan A/W 01 ‘Map Reading’ collection
Roksanda Ilincic in Rick Owens
Alexander McQueen, lent by Daphne Guinness
Detail of an Alexander McQueen dress, lent by Trudie Styler
Amanda Harlech wearing John Galliano’s 1984 graduate collection
Romeo Gigli A/W 1989
Liberty Ross in Christopher Kane
Giambattista Valli A/W 2005
Acne A/W 2009
Silvia Fendi in Ashish A/W 2005
‘Beyonce’ dress by David Koma A/W 2009
Gareth Pugh in Thierry Mugler A/W 1988 jacket and 1996 PVC trousers
Detail from Sonia Rykiel A/W 1999
avogueidea 