Supreme Style!!
Posted by v on May 13, 2008
‘Coloured people on TV! You never saw anything like it in the 1960s. Three women of colour who were totally empowered - creative, imaginative, beautiful, poised. To see the Supremes and know that it was possible to be like them, that black people could do that…’ - Oprah Winfrey
STYLE SUPREME: Its here. The long awaited Supremes exhibit. We told you about it in April. Click here to read. The Supremes star Mary Wilson swept into London’s Victoria and Albert Museum Monday to launch “The Story of The Supremes, From the Mary Wilson Collection,” an exhibition of 50 gowns from the Motown group’s performance history, taken from her own archive. “The U.K. was one of the first places that embraced The Supremes,” said Wilson, who was wearing a simple black jersey dress. “I remember [U.K. music television show] ‘Top of the Pops’ and performing at Drury Lane in the Sixties, so it’s very appropriate to have the exhibition here.”
The exhibit, which runs through Oct. 19, includes examples of the group’s glittering, sequined gowns from the Sixties, including a set of three orange and yellow beaded, psychedelic-print butterfly dresses with sweeping chiffon sleeves, and plush black velvet Bob Mackie dresses with glass jewels embroidered around the deep necklines. “The heaviest dresses we had were 35 pounds each,” remembered Wilson with a laugh. “We were typical women, buying clothes all the time.” These ornate gowns contrast with a simple yellow sweatshirt printed with the words “Love Child,” which Diana Ross wore on the cover of the group’s socially conscious single of the same name. Indeed, the dresses and record sleeves in the show are exhibited alongside text and news footage that explains the political climate in Sixties America that The Supremes performed against, charting the race riots in Los Angeles in 1965 and Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968. “Segregation was widespread, but music brought people together,” said Wilson. “It’s not only [about] beautiful gowns.”
