Art, Fashion, Theatre

Saturday October 12 was a rainy day in London with a high of around 14C.  We headed out in the morning to Allpress, a great coffeeshop on Redchurch Street, one of our favourite streets in Shoreditch.  Allpress was founded in New Zealand 30 years ago, and we visited their flagship store in Auckland this winter.

Making our coffees at Allpress

Buzzy Saturday at Allpress-- we also shared
an avocado toast

We then walked down Redchurch browsing in a number of the great shops along the way.  One of my favourite stores is Dragana Perišić, an innovative clothing store.  The designer, Dragana, remembered us from our last trip.

With Dragana 

After our saunter down Redchurch, we caught the 149 bus to London Bridge and started our walk down Bermondsey Street, another great street with fabulous galleries, the Textile Museum and wonderful coffee shops, pubs and restaurants.

Our first stop was the Eames Fine Art Gallery, where we had bought a painting our last visit.  There was a wonderful exhibit by Nigel Swift.

Nigel Swift -monotypes

So many had sold at the opening, that the gallery had to rehang the show with additional works

We then headed to the Fashion and Textile Museum.  The museum was founded by iconic British designer Zandra Rhodes and opened in 2003.  The Museum hosts temporary exhibitions exploring elements of fashion and textiles.  The building was designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta.  The Museum is now operated by Newham College.   There were two exhibits on display.  The main exhibit was Zandra Rhodes: 50 Years of Fabulous.  There was also a small exhibit entitled: Norman Hartnell-A Tribute.

Outside of Museum

Samira Addo - Dame Zandra Rhodes 2018

Poster for the Exhibit

Rhodes was born in 1940 in Chatham, Kent, UK.  She attended the Royal College of Art from
1962-65, focussing on her chosen medium of printed textiles.  She opened her first boutique in 1967. Her designs were featured in  US Vogue in 1970 and she started selling to high end stores in New York.  In the 1970s, her clientele included Princess Margaret, Jacqueline Kennedy, Bianca Jagger and Freddie Mercury.

Trousers 1968- early "Lipsticks" print

Beautiful printed chiffons

2020 dress

In 2000, Rhodes began to design costumes for the San Diego Opera's new production of The Magic Flute.  This was the first of three major opera productions she would be involved in.

Costumes designed by Rhodes

The second floor of the exhibit featured hanging pieces of printed chiffons she had designed.  One wall outlined the process of printing and there were about 30 pieces dated from 1969-2019  hanging in what was labelled "The Chiffon Forest".  The designs and colours were fabulous.

Field of Lilies 1973

The second exhibit in a small room on the main floor was a tribute to the first British "Fashion Knight", Sir Norman Hartnell (1901-1979).  He was responsible for creating an innovative London fashion scene during the 1920s and 1930s.  He designed for three Queens of the United Kingdom, including the 1953 Coronation Dress for Queen Elizabeth.  He also designed war-time utility clothing, ready-to wear, millinery, shoes, scarves and jewellery.   The display was of selected clothes, accessories and memorabilia.   Hartnell also designed the dress worn by Queen Elizabeth I during her Royal tour of Canada in 1939.  The dress was worn at the Opening of Parliament and later presented to Canada.  He also designed Princess Margaret's wedding dress. At the height of his career, he employed over 500 staff in-house.

Photo of Hartnell

One of his publications

Tangerine evening dress 1962 and Embroidered spotted net over café au lait silk cocktail dress 1959

After our visit to the museum, we stopped at Comptoir Bermondsey for a tuna on a baguette.

Lovely bakery- Comptoir Bermondsey

Sandwiches and salads

Our next stop was the White Cube gallery, a contemporary art gallery owned by art dealer Jay Jopling.  It was first opened in a small room in Duke Street in May 1993.  The gallery achieved its reputation by being the first to give one person shows to many of the Young British Artists, a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit in London in 1988.  The gallery moved to Shoreditch in 2000, but that location closed in 2012.   In October 2011, White Cube Bermondsey opened.  It was formerly a 1970s warehouse and at its launch was Europe's biggest commercial gallery.

Outside of White Cube

Hallway with galleries off to the sides

There were three excellent exhibits.  The first was by Harmony Hammond, featuring work from 1971-2019.  She is an artist, curator, author and activist, born in Chicago in 1944.  She has lived and worked in New Mexico since 1984.  She was a key figure in the feminist art movement in New York during the 1970s.  She often uses recycled materials in her work.

Bandaged Quilt #1, 2018-19

Bandaged Grid #4, 2016

The next exhibit featured the work of Dóra Maurer (born 1937 in Budapest).  This exhibit coincides with her year-long display at Tate Modern.  The paintings date from the late 1990s to 2013 and explore geometry and perspective using shaped canvases with overlapping planes of colour to create a distinctive three-dimensional presence.  The colours and designs were fabulous.

This was one of my favourites

Lots of style at the gallery 

Allan at the White Cube

The final exhibit was by Mona Hatoum, who had also been featured at the Tate Modern in 2016.  Hatoum was born in 1952 in Beirut to Palestinian parents.  Although born in Lebanon, she was ineligible for a Lebanese Identification Card, and identifies as Palestinian.  During a visit to London in 1975, civil war broke out in Lebanon and she was forced into exile.  Her work reflects on the current global condition, including conditions of confinement, architecture of surveillance and themes of mobility and conflict.  She currently lives in London.

In front of Map (mobile) 2019

Dark Matter  2019

Remains to be Seen 2019

Remains of the Day 2016-18

Hot Spot (stand) 2018

Stool II 2014

All three exhibits were interesting and thought provoking.

Our last stop around the corner was Eames Fine Art Studio, which is only open on Saturdays.  The Gallery had an exhibit of wonderful Henry Moore sketches from two portfolios of his "Shelter Sketchbook" done during WWII.

Sketches from two portfolios for sale

We passed a Bansky drawing on a wall of a building.

Bansky- rude kids

Our final stop on Bermondsey St. was Chapter 72 (at 72 Bermondsey) where we had coffee.  The place was packed with people having coffee or their famous Espresso Martinis or other cocktails. Chapter 72 was the 2018 winner of Time Out's Best Local Coffee Shop.  It is run by a husband and wife team.

Busy Chapter 72-- the servers T-shirts say "Ground-Shaken-Stirred"

Great tattoos

We headed back to London Bridge- a great view of the Shard in the rain.  A few minutes later, the top was covered in cloud.

The Shard

We took an overground train two stops to Charring Cross.

Ferris wheel at night

We had tickets to The Son, the third play of a trilogy by French playwright Florian Zeller.  We had seen The Father in 2018 (about dementia), had just missed a showing of The Mother (the second play) in NYC last December and were thrilled to be able to see The Son. The three plays are not about the same family but deal with family issues.  The Son was incredibly powerful, addressing the theme of adolescent depression.  Laurie Kynaston, a Welsh actor, was incredible as the teenager.  All the acting and the production was superb.  

The cast

Review in the lobby

We then took the Tube back to our 'hood and had dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant, The Smoking Goat (recommended by our server at Oklava on Friday night and also recommended by our Airbnb hosts).

Late night scene at The Smoking Goat

Delicious chilli fish sauce wings (the best!)

Allan getting ready to dig in- we also had a plate of stir fried greens

What a first full day in London-- art, fashion, food and theatre and lots of rain!