Enchanted Palace

Kensington Palace is undergoing a major facelift, but that hasn’t stopped it from having a bit of a fashion moment.

Its rooms have just been transformed by some of the biggest names in fashion, including Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Jones and William Tempest, to create Enchanted Palace, a series of dramatic and eerie installations that hark back to the palace’s past, taking seven generations of princesses as its inspiration.

Designed as a ‘trail’ around the palace, visitors are given maps and pencils and sent off into a dimly-lit maze of opulent rooms filled with everything from actors dressed as mad scientists to stuffed animals to one of Princess Diana’s party frocks.

A winding staircase makes a theatrical backdrop for Vivienne Westwood’s ‘Dress for a Rebellious Princess’, a gorgeously shaped, draped ghostly costume which was inspired by the story of Princess Charlotte. Elsewhere, a collection of ecletic, humorous hats by Stephen Jones hang from the ceiling in a playful response to the opulent surroundings: a bejewelled apple headpiece dangles over a bust of Sir Isaac Newton.

The most magical effects, though, are from Boudicca’s beautiful contraptions in the ‘time’ themed room, where spotlights turn hard, armour-like dress-sculptures into elegant, soft, suggestive shadows against the gilded statuettes on the walls. In a blue-tinged bedroom, London Fashion Week star William Tempest’s suspended dress of 2,000 origami birds is breathtaking.

Yes, there are tiaras a-plenty, but the creepy recorded voices keep it from feeling too princessy, and it is a palace (albeit a dusty one) so you’d hope to see a bit of bling. The overall effect is that of a theatrical, grownup fairytale wonderland. The attention to detail in the displays and the sketchy, not too polished storytelling of the show makes it feel fun and ethereal and – best of all – shows fashion as art without a single stiff, plastic-limbed, big-haired mannequin in sight.

Enchanted Palace is at Kensington Palace until January 2012.

Image by Steve Cadman courtesy of Flickr