Dressed by Angels will open at The Old Truman Brewery on 2nd October 2015. This brand new interactive exhibition tells the story behind the world's greatest costume house, presenting visitors with an irresistible mix of costumes, drama and history. Angels Costumiers has been dressing the world for 175 years, including countless Oscar and BAFTA Award winning films, and Olivier and Tony Award winning theatre. Over seven generations of one family, Angels has become the premiere costumier to the world. This is their story - in costumes. Tickets go on sale this Friday 17th July from dressedbyangels.co.uk.
From Lawrence of Arabia to Titanic, Dickens to Lillie Langtry, and from Military to Royalty: you know it, Angels has dressed it. Visitors will get exclusive access to costumes from films including: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Star Wars, The Iron Lady and The Grand Budapest Hotel; TV shows Morecambe and Wise, Dr Who, Only Fools & Horses and Downton Abbey; and the blockbuster musical Wicked.
Over 100 costumes have been carefully selected from Angel's illustrious back catalogue for display. Visitors will see bespoke costumes made for Fred Astaire, Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier, Tom Baker, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep, to name just a few. Alongside the costumes will be photographs and fascinating letters and artefacts, providing an insight into showbiz history.
Dressed by Angels will be launched exclusively in London, using costumes to take visitors on a journey through Victorian London up to the present day. The exhibition will feature many interactive elements to allow the visitor a hands-on experience which will include digital games, measurement tapes and forms and how to use them, interactive media displays and a workshop room where people can learn the intricate craft of costume progress from design to finished product. This is an exhibition that will appeal to all ages, and the whole family as you journey through Angels' history.
THE EXHIBIT
Beginning in the sooty, fog bound London of the early Victorian era, where Covent Garden's Seven Dials was focus of a vast number of immigrants all plying their trade, visitors will be introduced to Charles Dickens and his most memorable characters. During this time, London's theatre and dance halls started to flourish - all of whom needed costumes... Enter Daniel Angel. Founder of Angels, Daniel had come to England as a tailor by trade. He got his start by acquiring clothes from the estates of the deceased and hiring them out to Londoners. The rest, as they say, is history!
Visitors will then travel through the dance hall days into the early 20th century and with it a diversification into military uniforms for the two World Wars. On into rooms highlighting the Ealing Comedy years, the Swinging Sixties and the musical blockbuster explosion of the 1980s alongside many iconic costumes from television from the 1979s to the present day.
The centre point of the Exhibition will be instantly recognisable costumes from Titanic, Indiana Jones and Cate Blanchett's Queen Elizabeth I to name just a few.
The exhibition finishes with a look into the world of fancy dress and how so many of these costumes have their beginnings in the elaborate original film and theatre originals.
A variety of workshops led by industry experts will be scheduled for evenings throughout the run and will go on sale in September (more details to be announced in due course). Topics will include: Special Effects Make Up; The Inside Story: Anecdotes from the Industry; Costume for Large Events and From Design to Reality.
Exhibition tickets go will be on general sale from Friday 17th July from
dressedbyangels.co.uk / 0203 773 8995
