My Inspiration - V&A

While in London in December for a friends tropical themed birthday party - yes you are reading that correctly. I managed to sneak off for an hour to take a trip to the Victor and Albert Museum. They never fail to have a exhibition that I want and have to see.

I found the Undressed. Brief History of Underwear and was intrigued

Now before I found my calling as a wedding designer I had worked as a lingerie designer for a company based in Dublin, so this was of particularly interest to me.

Beautiful silk and lace detailing . They showed how underwear had evolved through the ages and how modern lives and fashion changed how underwear was designed.

There was for me two stand out pieces that made the exhibition.

The modern day evening wear that was inspired by underwear. As a big fan of Elie Saab, to see his lilac creation up close was fantastic and humbling, the hand work detail amazing. Layers of silk and lace carefully placed to create the most beautiful silhouette . So inspiring to see

Elie Saab

Secondly the video piece - The "Babydoll" slip by Carina Gilson. This video showed the process of making a silk slip. Still even to me a designer that works to create in cloth daily I found this mesmerising. They used a method called cut away that I had seen done before many years ago in lingerie .

So how does this help me to design dresses . Well there is something very inspiring to see how fashion has evolved, moved with the times and needs of its world. It is quiet amazing to think I am part of that. Will my daughter look back at what I am creating today and think how much we have moved, changed, evolved?

What inspires you? What motivates you and excites you? We would love to hear more in our comments below.