Tour Details
- Duration
- 2.5 hours
- Product Type
- Tour
- Venues
- Victoria and Albert Museum
Photos & Highlights
- Learn about fashion history in the world's capital of trend
- Led by a fashion or art historian
Select a date
Tour Description
The fashion collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum is a unique treasure trove for trendsetters and fashion lovers. This Victoria and Albert Museum Fashion Tour takes dedicated followers of fashion on a journey through 250 years of “la mode” in the fashion collection at the V&A Museum. In addition to learning about the history of couture and the ways style has evolved through the decades, we'll also discover why London was, and still is, a hub for high fashion.
Victoria and Albert Museum Fashion Tour
What made English trendsetters exchange their muslin prints, silks, and pearls for safety pins, plaid, and underwear as outerwear? What did the ton—the fashionable society—wear in the eighteenth century, and how did the Industrial Revolution in Britain affect what we wear in the twenty-first century? What made the 1930s slink, the 1960s swing, and the 1980s rock?
Using the museum galleries as a backbone, we will weave a narrative connecting the history of Britain, its geographical and cultural expansion, and the influence that this had on the development of fashion. From fabrics and precious stones brought in from the four corners of the Empire to the traditional Harris Tweed woven in the Hebrides, we will discuss all aspects of the fashion industry and how they survive in Great Britain.
Fashion Icons Through the Ages
We will consider past movers and shakers that have made London the most creative and dynamic center for fashion in the world in the twenty-first century. We will admire one-of-a-kind court dresses from 1750, consider style icons of the past, and discuss the role of contemporary fashion muses. There will also be an opportunity to explore the greater picture and consider how 250 years of history and the spirit of the times are reflected in that phenomenon we call fashion.
FAQ
Where do we meet? Where do we end?
We will meet near the V&A, and end inside the museum. Your confirmation email will have the exact meeting point, along with a map.
Is this tour good for kids?
Yes! We have some excellent family-friendly guides who can appeal to the learning styles of kids and teens. Feel free to provide us with information about your children such as favorite school subjects, and hobbies.
Is this a walking intensive tour?
The tour moves at a leisurely pace. There are opportunities to sit and use the restroom if needed.
Is the V&A mobility friendly?
Yes, the museum has a stair-free entrance, and the majority of the museum is accessible to wheelchair users.
Where You'll Start
34 Reviews
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Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ.
Simon was excellent in all respects. He was extremely knowledgeable and provided a superb presentation that was vey informative, educational and of importance in appropriate context and cohesion.
Beyond our review of Simon and this particular tour, we have been very disappointed in what we view as far lesser Context tours in London than pre Covid. For repeat visitors to London that already have taken the more overall London Context tours it would be welcome to have more specialty tours that might focus, for example, on a particular British author (such as the Context Hemingway tour we have taken in Paris).
Sandra
May. 30, 2023
Francesca was truly wonderful as a guide. She gave us a great historical evolution of fashion through the different eras of the British monarchy and tastes and insight into the cultural mores or the times. She showed us also the Jeweycollection which was impressive and even walked us through the Cast Court which was a first for us at any museum. Thank you for a lovely tour which she spent more time we expected her to do.
Mariko
May. 5, 2023
Clare was a remarkably knowledgeable & pleasant guide. Wonderful way to spend the day! She was great.
Michele m.
Oct. 17, 2022
