Wilcox, Claire – The Bell Bookshop

Bags

Emma — Thu, 08 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

An impeccably researched and beautifully produced concise history of bags through the ages, with examples drawn from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s remarkable collection.

From the hand-stitched embroidered purses of the 16th century, to the ‘make-do-and-mend’ bags of the war years and the rise of the ‘It’ bag in the 2000s, bags reflect the needs and desires of their users, as well as the changing attitudes to fashion. Focusing on the V&A’s world-famous collection, Bags tells the story of the bag from the earliest leather pouches through to today’s covetable, luxury pieces.

Patch work

Emma — Thu, 27 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

WINNER OF THE 2021 PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE‘A strange and mesmerising piece of work’ Sunday Times ‘An absolute masterpiece’ Laura Cumming‘An uncommon delight’ Observer Claire Wilcox has been a curator of fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum for most of her working life. In Patch Work, she turns her curator’s eye to the fabric of life itself, tugging at the threads of memory: a cardigan worn by a child, a tin button box, the draping of a curtain, a pair of cycling shorts, a roll of lace, a pin hidden in a seam. Through these intimate and compelling close-ups, we see how the stories and the secrets of clothes measure out the passage of time, our gains and losses, and the way we use them to unravel and write our histories. ‘Effervescent, poetic, puzzle-like … Wilcox picks at the heartstrings’ Financial Times

Frida Kahlo Making Her Self Up

Emma — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In 1954, following her death, Frida Kahlo’s possessions were locked away in the Casa Azul in Mexico City, her lifelong home. Half a century later, her collection of clothing, jewellery, cosmetics and other personal items was rediscovered.

Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up offers a fresh perspective on the life story of this extraordinary artist, whose charisma and entirely individual way of dressing made her one of the most photographed women of her time.

Specially-commissioned photographs show her distinctive Mexican outfits alongside her self-portraits, an unprecedented pairing that is enriched by iconic images taken in her lifetime.