Thea Porter at the Fashion and Textile Museum

Thea Porter was one of the pioneers of one of the most iconic looks in British fashion: bohemian chic. The exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum is really important in that it actually fills a gap in fashion history. The guest curator of the exhibition, Laura McLaws Helms, took us through the exhibition and of course knew all of Thea Porter's history (she's even written a book about Thea Porter), but when she started researching she said she found only a few paragraphs on the internet, which is amazing when you think of how developed the internet is.The exhibition was very dense and well organized - it's one of those exhibitions where you do have to read all the accompanying reading materials to appreciate the history and the significance of the garments. In a way the garments all look very natural, like you've seen these types of designs many times before and that's because you have - it's just that Thea Porter was one of the first, and in her time the designs were new, daring and original.