Frow at the Peter Jensen Fashion Show

Subtract the dribbling baby, who propelled mushy carrots from the highchair next to me and his mother, persisting with ‘here comes the aeroplane’ (despite the kid clearly having a fear of flying) and I would have, had the most refined evening of my life on Friday.

Apparently, all it takes is live music, a pot of tea and a comfy spot in the V&A to make me think I’m sitting in a French salon rather than a museum café in west London. Nevertheless, whilst I might have believed I could hold my own in a debate on the metaphysics of morals or paralogisms of pure reason (the Romantics knew how to have fun), I was simply there to watch a fashion show.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Peter Jensen’s womenswear brand, the Victoria and Albert Museum showcased some of his pieces (styled by Lucy Ewing) as part of their Fashion in Motion series. Two weeks ago, I decided to set my alarm and be first in line for a ticket in order to practise my reporting technique at the event and, thankfully, the early start paid off!

The actual show was amazing; I secured a Frow seat (look at me all down with the lingo) and could practically touch the walking works of art. Like old friends, we were re-introduced to pieces produced over the past ten years. However, I really should have spent less time pretending to philosophise beforehand and more time trying to work out how to use my camera.

It turns out I am no more a photographer than an eighteenth-century philosopher and the following, shameful evidence proves I have no idea how to deal with moving objects through a lense. My only solution, apart from asking the models to stand still and say cheese, was to set my camera to ‘kids and pets’ (if anyone has any advice I would be grateful by the way).

Apart from my appalling photography skills, I was also appallingly unprepared. The moment the lights went down, I realised I had one battery life left and a full memory. My first fashion show was spent frantically deleting pictures in between taking unbelievably horrific photos!

Anyway, I hope you can at least make out some of Jensen’s designs in these pictures. He really is a fantastic designer and I love the way each of his collections is based around a muse; be it friend, family or a famous female of strength.

For Spring/ Summer 2012, the Dane used Nina Simone, soul singer and advocate of civil rights, as his inspiration. Apart from the pieces being cut to perfection, you could see Simone’s life being played out through the clothes; from the virginal white pieces of her religious upbringing to the colourful prints that reflected her move to the buzzing atmosphere of New York and Atlantic City.

Yes, those literally are furry leggings

Two pieces from the latest collection

Possibly the only positive element in these images is that they prove I was definitely there! If I was going to copy and paste, I would have gone for better images! Of course, you can still see Jensen’s previous collections directly on his site and the designer also published a book earlier this year, entitled...wait for it...

‘Peter Jensen & Mary Miles Minter & Mildred & Emma & Olga & Nancy & Gertrude & Cindy & Tonya & Fanny & Sissy & Helena & Tina & Christina & Mink & Candice-Marie & Jodie & Jytte & Laurie & Muriel & Shelley & Anna Karina’ (literally all of the man’s muses).

 Anyway, hope you enjoyed the show and my lesson for the day? 

You live, you learn!

I’ll be charging my camera the night before next time and swotting up on aperture priority settings...god help me.

xx