My very stylish week part 2: in which I meet a fashion hero

After a trip to Selfridges on Monday (read all about it in My very stylish week part 1) my stylish week continued on Thursday night with the opening of the new Somerset House exhibition Masters of Style: Celebrating the Stories behind Italian Fashion.

Dolce and Gabbana SS2011 Steven Klein Dolce and Gabbana Somerset House Dolce and Gabbana 2011 Dolce and Gabbana photographers

Dolce and Gabbana SS2011 by Steven Klein

I’m not sure how I ended up on the VIP invite list for this private view (thanks for that 77 PR), but I was more than happy to go along, not least because the exhibition was curated by a man whose name is usually prefaced with the words ‘legendary fashion writer’ – Colin McDowell. The show brings together photography from the archives of six major Italian fashion houses – Giorgio Armani, Dolce and Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Missoni and Prada. The designers themselves provide captions, as does McDowell and the result is a beautiful exhibition that fashion and photography fans alike will love.

While most of the guests on Thursday seemed happy to stay downstairs and quaff the free bottles of beer provided by sponsors Peroni Nastro Azzurro, I ventured up to where the photographs were on display. I’m glad I did, because there I found Mr McDowell. I quickly switched on the Voice Memos app on my iPhone (so useful as a makeshift dictaphone) and nervously approached (this guy is a fashion journalism hero of mine OK?) to see if I could ask a couple of questions. McDowell kindly agreed and I managed to get some pretty good quotes for my review, which you can read over on Fashionising.com. Now the only thing left to do is work out how I get on the VIP invite list for every other fashion exhibition in town.