Pretty Dresses, Sneaky Photos, and Acting Advice

Is there any better way to spend a sunny day in London than hidden away inside the dark halls of a museum? Well normally, if I was truly English, I'd be pulling my clothes off and indecently sunning in the parks with some booze (no really...people go crazy when the sun comes out here. Goodbye modesty.)

A new exhibit just opened at the V&A called Wedding Dresses: 1774 - 2014. I may have snapped a few photos in a possibly, maybe, I just can't remember no-photo zone.... I'm only showing a few here, but you really should go check out the exhibit if you're in London. Have a girly day and enjoy 'ohh' and 'ahh'ing over the lovely dresses they have on display. (My only qualm, other than no-photos, was there just wasn't enough. I wanted so much more! But the two floor compact display space was spectacularly filled regardless.)

 I dragged Amanda along with me from Rhyme & Ribbons, one of my favourite expat friends to adventure around with in London! Additionally, she didn't bat an eye over any sneaky photos in the museum. I mean, come on people, DRESSES! Pretty, sparkly, WEDDING DRESSES. Of course I'm gonna take quick, sneaky photos with my iPhone. #sorrynotsorry

We were pretty happy with a lot of the purple dresses. This was an old maid's wedding dress. She was past 30, so ya know...practically dead. She did what she wanted.

By far my most favourite. Check out my Instagram for more info on this piece.

I want them Louboutin's. Dream a dream.

And another favourite. So gorgeous. Look how it sparkles!

After drooling over the dresses we quickly found our way through the rest of the photo-friendly and free fashion exhibit, also worth a good look around.

Before we headed out into the sunshine, Amanda showed me the joys that is the Theatre and Performance collection, which is nicely hidden away in an even darker corner, where you'd only really stumble upon it if you were in a school group having lunch...or you were really lost.

There we learned some hard facts about acting. Don't know why I even bothered working on my master's degree. Let me hit you up with some knowledge:

'Building a character: Acting is central to any performance. The way an actor speaks and looks and moves onstage changes the audience's emotional response to that character. There are many approaches to acting technique that consider both the external and internal life of a character, from emotion through to the way of speaking and moving onstage.'

I'm off to get my Oscar now that I understand it all.

I just thought this was fascinating. And kinda what I'd like to wear to breakfast.

Amanda introduced me to her favourite section...the costumes. They didn't smell so pretty, but neither does theatre, kids. And don't you forget it. It's smells of tears, sweat, ambition, and poorness. ... Ya know, if it could smell like that, it would.

But we smelled pretty cause it was a girly day.

Oddly enough we were the only ones enjoying this thoroughly enjoyable collection. Maybe because it was put off in the dungeons of the museum. Where no hope survives. Welcome to the Theatre collection, where dreams come to die.

So that got morbid. Go back and look at the dresses. Preeeeetty.

Overall it was a delightful visit and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend going to visit the pretty dresses, and please, if you have time, go say hi to the lonely Theatre and Performance section. There's even stuff on Shakespeare!

xx Lindsay