Rule Britannica: Selfridges open The Big Britannica Exhibition

With the upcoming London Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in sight, 2012 is a big year for Britain; and as if we needed another reason to celebrate, Selfridges are marking this special time in British history with a huge in-store extravaganza called the Big British Bang, honouring all things British, from tea and Marmite to fashion and the royal family.

The highlight of the whole affair is an exhibition entitled The Big Britannica Exhibition 1951-1953. Curated by Judith Clark and milliner Stephen Jones, the show pays homage to the best of fifties fashion. The entire Ultralounge on Selfridges London has given way to a perfect recreation of the era, where visitors can see the wardrobe of the Queen and her contemporaries between 1951 and 1953, as looks from the period have been recreated for the exhibition. Each look is finished with a hat that Stephen Jones has specially crafted for the exhibition.

Judith Clark declared that the opportunity to reinvent the era for the twenty-first century “seemed irresistible.” The inspiration for the exhibition’s name came from British Vogue, who began a section entitled Britannica in February 1951, in an attempt to re-evaluate British style for the post-war period.

“Fifties fashion is such a crowd-pleaser – everyone can picture it,” says Cark.

Stephen Jones, too, has voiced his love of the fifties as a time when the hat was ubiquitous in fashion: “Those Penn and Avedon poses of women in extraordinary graphic shapes with crazy things on their head – that seemed to be the most revolutionary things.”

The Big Britannica Exhibition runs until 24^th June in the Lower Ground Floor Ultralounge of Selfridges London.

As part of the Big British Bang celebration, Selfridges will also be hosting plenty of exciting in-store events, exclusive pop-up shops and more: to see what else is in store for patriotic shoppers, visit their website here.

Khaleda Rahman