Why you have to see V&A's Hollywood Costume exhibit

Hollywood Costume sponsored by Harry Winston, 2012, copyright V&A images

A month into the show, Dorothy's genuine red slippers have returned to the Smithsonian and the hype may be slipping back. But don't lose interest if you haven't seen it yet! This exhibition is incredible and the sold out advanced tickets until December and winding queues at the V&A's ticket desk is a testament to how great it is.

It's NOT just a clothes exhibition. 
I've never seen an exhibition on fashion quite like this; it's a full film experience. At the entrance, a huge cinema screen plays a montage showcasing the costumes you're about to see. Items are put in the context of its film using projected animated scripts, movie clips, interviews and installations. For example, Harrison Ford's iconic Indiana Jones costume is set against a video which deconstructs every detail, from how they trimmed his trilby hat and sat on it to the 1930s aviator-style jacket they created and aged with blades. For Oceans 11, an animated table explains the design process as if it's being brainstormed right in front of you. Matching image or video heads are suspended above most mannequins.

In September, I visited the Warner Brothers Studio Museum in Los Angeles, which is home to their most famous costumes, props and memorabilia such as The Dark Knight Rises, The Big Bang Theory and Harry Potter. It felt like the best thing I'd ever seen. But if that was a high, Hollywood Costume is like Felix Baumgartner's skydive. It's moving and gripping, carrying a true cinematic essence.

They've got the most iconic costumes you can imagine.
Marilyn Monroe's white dress (as The Girl in The Seven Year Itch, 1955), Holly Golightly's little black dress and pearls (Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961), Dorothy's gingham pinafore (Wizard of Oz, 1939), Charlie Chaplin's suit and the Darth Vadar outfit. There's no exaggerations here. For the first time ever they're being showcased in one exhibition space.

There's something for everyone.
Some will be in love with Cecilia Tallis's (Keira Knightley) green dress in Atonement (2007), others will remember Scarlett O'Hara's (Vivien Leigh) green curtain dress in Gone With The Wind (1939). If not them, then perhaps Batman's (Christian Bale) suit in the Dark Knight Rises (2012) or Brad Pitt's patterned shirt and leather jacket in Fight Club (1999)? Across 130 costumes every film fan will be pleased.

You'll appreciate film all the more.
As the Guardian put it, "It's an exhibition about film not fashion". Every costume is complimented with an anecdote, explanation and context. For example: they went through 20 copies of Jason Bourne's purposely forgettable jacket because they were damaged in fight sequences; upon seeing Eliza Doolittle's ragged costume for the first time Audrey Hepburn "was so moved that she gulped," and the low-cut yellow dress Kate Hudson wore in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days (2003) was created once the costume designer asked Harry Winston to create a necklace with that blazing yellow diamond.

It's once in a lifetime.
It took five years of sourcing, identifying and securing objects from across the world. There won't be something like this for a long while.

Tickets are £14 (concession available), runs until 27 January 2013. Visit vam.ac.uk.