Billy – Bill Gibb’s Moment in Time

This weekend I went to see the Bill Gibb retrospective at the Fashion and Textile Museum. Apologies for the bad pictures but only had my phone camera with me.

Bill Gibb was a Scottish designer, the only couture designer in Britain during the 70s. His signature look is heavily inspired by medieval dresses and fairy tales. He also used a bee motif a lot as belt buckles, buttons or print on fabric or leather.

The designs felt very dated and heavy, perhaps due to the way they were displayed – mostly on hangers. Very often they lacked lightness and shape unlike the very few dresses that were displayed on dummies which looked fantastic.

I really like all the jersey dresses and tops, the fabric flows and the embroidered details are beautiful. I couldn’t stop thinking they looked very Stella McCartney, especially one of the jumpsuits.

His designs must have influenced many other contemporary designers like Dries van Noten and Missoni.

The exhibition runs till 18th of January 2009.