Brian May and V&A to release 3D crinoline book

Rock star Brian May's company, The London Stereoscopic Company (LSC), is partnering with the V&A to produce a book for its upcoming exhibit, Undressed: 350 Years of Underwear Fashion. 

Crinoline: Fashion’s Most Magnificent Disaster, by Brian May & Denis Pellerin, is a “3D exploration of one of fashion’s most disastrous yet most celebrated garments”, which comes complete with a 3D viewer, the OWL, to take readers on a 3D “visual journey” through crinoline’s history.

The book features contributions from Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes and curator of the exhibit, Edwina Erhman, and covers the emergence of the steel petticoat and onset of the "Crinoline Age". Crinoline has since been reintroduced to the catwalk by designers such as the late Alexander McQueen, Zandra Rhodes and Vivienne Westwood, bringing the "dramatic garment of the 19th century all the way into the 21st century with a modern twist". 

The book will be released on 16th April, priced £50, and launch at the highly-anticipated V&A Undressed exhibit, where a selection of Brian May's Crinoline stereo cards will be on display.

Westwood said: "The crinoline idea had been with me for quite some time before I developed it into a collection. I wanted to save experimenting with the crinoline for a rainy day, so to speak.... The first time I ever saw a crinoline was in the ballet Petruschka and I was immediately drawn to it. The mini crinoline encourages you to walk with a certain swing and it swiggles, which I also like." 

May said: "Strangely enough, the period of the craze for the voluminous crinoline petticoats – roughly from 1856 to 1867 – coincides almost exactly with the first Golden Age of the Stereoscope. We, the authors, felt that it was high time that this intimate association was recognised, and that the crinoline and the stereoscope should be reunited in the 21st century.”