Last night I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the Bill Gibb exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. Well I say lucky, there were far too many people and it was far too hot but aside from that, I had a marvellous time ogling the frocks and trying to avoid all the elbows and arms which kept flying at me (one of which was Twiggy’s, but I’ll forgive her anything!). My own Bill Gibb frock [see below] is far too heavy and hot to be worn even in a cold snap, so I chose to wear my red Biba with the very Gibb-esque sleeves. Turns out that red Bibas teamed with red lipstick (I was channelling Wendy B!) are a good ice-breaker and I met some very lovely people while I mooched around.

I can highly recommend the exhibition, and I certainly will be going back to have a proper look. Not least at an incredible photo, which I’m now desperate to find, of some of my favourite fashion designers together. Yes, John Bates and Ossie Clark in the same photo. And Mary Quant at the back. I wonder if the fur was flying when it got taken?

The clothes are the star, although I do feel that they should be displayed on mannequins rather than suspended from the ceiling on hangers. Gibb’s clothes were designed for a body. Quite often they look very peculiar hanging up, and sleeves are not done enough justice when they hang limply at the side. There’s also the problem that they’re very much touchable (one rare mannequin is sat on a swing in the middle of the room) and I fear much the same problems as with the Bates exhibition that grubby hands will be all over the pieces, and I only hope they have good insurance and watchful staff!

I was fascinated to see the early Alice Paul boutique pieces, I had no idea there were still any around to be exhibited, and my friend Daniel’s early Baccarat piece is certainly a star attraction. One lady exclaimed that she kept coming back to look at it over and over again.

I will also go back to have a proper look at the video projection, which is a documentary made when Gibb was launching his label in 1971. Lo and behold it was the same catwalk show as the cream version of my black dress appeared in, so it was lovely to see it ‘in motion’ on the catwalk.

I will do some more Gibb-orientated posts soon when I start to unpack all my Vogues again and can scan in some beauties. But until then, here are a couple of ones I’ve sold:

and finally a skirt which is still for sale on my website – hurrah!!!