Ballgowns

Now in paperback, Ballgowns presents interpretative photographs by David Hughes of 60 years of British ballgowns, including designs by Alexander McQueen, Bellville Sassoon, Erdem, Gareth Pugh, Stella McCartney and Zandra Rhodes.

The social season of debutante parties and private balls, weddings and charity events has long provided Britain's fashion designers with opportunities to design elaborate, tour de force eveningwear. In more recent years the ballroom has been replaced by the red carpet. Though the context has changed, the ballgown remains a staple in many designers' collections and continues to serve as an expression of status, protocol and taste, while simultaneously embodying elements of drama and fantasy.

Sonnet Stanfill is curator of twentieth-century and contemporary fashion at the V&A. She curated the displays Ossie Clark (2003) and New York Fashion Now (2007). Oriole Cullen is curator of modern textiles and fashion at the V&A. She was the curator and co-author of Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones (V&A 2009) and author of V&A Pattern: Pop Patterns (V&A 2011).