Independent charity Historic Royal Palaces is undertaking a £12 million major project to transform Kensington Palace by 2012. The Palace could have closed for this time, or they could have chosen to do something extraordinary. They chose to do something extraordinary.
Last year I went to The Palace with William Tempest, to a meeting with curators Joanna Marschner and Alexandra Kim and the team from theatre company Wild Works. This was the first of many meetings to come and Joanna spoke about an extraordinary idea, it was a meeting of possibilities – which is in many ways what the Palace is all about.
I couldn’t envision how it was all going to come together. I saw the start of several of the princesses’ rooms and unusual objects being created in the work rooms of Kensington Palace. Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Aminaka Wilmont, Boudicca and illustrator and set designer Echo Morgan all choose a room and a story, and with Wild Works they created “The Enchanted Palace”.
The Enchanted Palace opened on March 26th and I had the opportunity to visit the Palace at night. It truly was enchanting - it felt alive and atmospheric. You often feel the need to whisper like you’re in a museum but the Palace is not a museum - it’s a place where people actually live. It was home to William and Mary, George II, the young Queen Victoria, and Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Duke and Duchess of Kent and Duke and Duchess of Gloucester presently live in the west wing of the Palace.
Some will say this is not an exhibition for traditionalists, but I think it is. The Palace and it’s stories are celebrated and told again in new ways so that they are not forgotten, and the stories told through this exhibition are definitely stories to be remembered.
William Tempest - Queen Victoria’s bedroom
Vivienne Westwood - Charlotte The Rebellious Princess
Boudicca -The Cupola Room
Wild Works Theatre company - Detectors keeping watch over The Palace. They are what makes the Palace come to life they are scurrying about with a ghost like quality playing musical instruments including a saw, watching over a missing princess and discussing time.
Aminaka Wilmont’s ‘dress of tears’ hangs above the bed in Queen Mary II
Council Chamber has two dresses, which belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales and Princess Margaret. The dresses are enclosed in glass cases surrounded by leafless trees.
Kensington Palace is one of London’s most famous landmarks, not least because it was once to home to Princess Diana. Every room has a story - it truly is a place of fairytales and secrets. There are so many hidden doors, secret stairwells and tiny rooms.
This year the palace has been transfored by the UK theatre company Wildworks and some of UK’s most talented designers:Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Aminaka Wilmont, Boudicca and illustrator and set designer Echo Morgan.
Naturally the room that I’m most exciting about is Queen Victoria’s bedroom with an installation by William Tempest! This is the room in which Victoria was sleeping when her uncle King William IV died at Windsor Castle in the middle of the night, and where she awoke to the news that she was to become Queen. The installation in this room will represent Victoria’s life changing overnight transformation from young princess to Queen of the United Kingdom. Inspired by Victoria’s new-found freedom and independence as a result of her accession, William Tempest will create an avant-garde interpretation of a period dress that uses origami and produce a trompe l’oeil effect whereby the dress will appear to vanish and merge into its surroundings.
The Enchanted Palace opens 26 March – June 2010 at Kensington Palace.
Information on opening hours and ticket prices, visit www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonpalace. Supported by the Members of Historic Royal Palaces.
Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label show at London Fashion Week was a huge event and it took place at Earls Court’s Brompton Hall. It must have had a capacity for over a thousand people, so of course it was a star studded crowd with Pamela Anderson, Kate Moss, Erin O’Conner, Dita Von Teese, Emma Watson and Jamie Winstone just to name a few!
The collection was everything you’d expect from fringing, sequins, bright colours, PVC and the most stunning hats by Prudence Millinery. The hat’s were my favourite part; there were oversized hats & sun visors in gold, dresses with hoods and cloches type hats. You can see all the looks on Vogue.com
Of course the message is just as important as the clothes. We were given the Active Resistance to Propaganda - Manifesto Vivienne Westwood. On the credit list we are reminded that "Leonard Peltier has been in prison for 31 years for a crime he did not commit.."
Before the show I met up with the gorgeous Jessica Bumpus, one of the fashion writers for Vogue.com. She’s one of those girls who is effortlessly cool with her strawberry blond hair and red lips.
So many people!!!
Alexia of Luxure Magazine looking fabulous!
I’m not a fan of fake tans - it seem kind of cheap to me, I know it’s a look, a style that so many people love and some people do look better with a tan - just not an orange fake tan… Anyway a red head should have beautiful porcelain skin like Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts. I spotted her at the show and asked if I could take her photo - I just love her red hair! Nicola’s recently started her own make up line - Dainty Doll. I love the packaging and it’s in every goody bag this London Fashion Week!
Doing a photo shoot with Olympic athletes can be great, they already have such a strong presence and are comfortable with lots of people running around; which they can just ignore and focus on the task at hand. All the athletes are sponsored by Team Visa. When you have young athletes doing there first fashion photo shoot you need a strong team behind the camera: photographer Joe Lacey and art director Simon Costin! The energy was great and you just know it’s going to be a fun shoot day!
Tom Daley is a diver and wore Vivienne Westwood.
Mo Farah does track and field and looked dashing in a Richard James.
Natasha Baker is an equestrian and wore an iconic Giles Deacon dress. Beth Tweddle is a gymnast wearing a bespoke Marchesa gown.
Independent charity Historic Royal Palaces is undertaking a £12 million major project to transform Kensington Palace by 2012. The Palace could have closed for this time, or they could have chosen to do something extraordinary. They chose to do something extraordinary.
.jpg "The Enchanted Palace at Night")
.jpg "The Enchanted Palace at Night")
