I was fortunate to attend the Cecil Beaton ‘Fashionable World’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery on the final day, and what a treat it was. Photographs, letters, sketches, illustration and fashion were all gathered here, plus some of Beaton’s World War II photographs. Apart from the glamour of his fashion muses, and the accompanying colourful and textural clothes, a particular surprise for me was that he’d been such a prolific illustrator of books and book jackets. I particularly liked the look of the Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook, and his design for the jacket of Portrait of New York. An exhibition such as this, to my design eye, is an invitation to be inspired by colour: who couldn’t imagine a decadent drawing room or bedroom decked out in the sage greens, lilacs and pinks of the women photographed below? I’ll take inspiration, too, from one of his quotes, picked out by the exhibition: ‘I have wonderful plans and am going to do marvellous things,’ Cecil Beaton. Who can argue with that?
Image from the Cecil Beaton’s ‘Fashionable World’ National Portrait GallerY Exhibition
Image from the Cecil Beaton’s ‘Fashionable World’ National Portrait Gallery exhibition
Image from the Cecil Beaton’s ‘Fashionable World’ National Portrait Gallery Exhibition