Alice: Curiouser & Curiouser at the Victoria and Albert Museum

It’s good to be going to exhibitions and seeing things up close again isn’t it?

I recently had the joy of visiting the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the V&A Museum. I’ve always loved the book by Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and have enjoyed seeing the various interpretations of the novel in different forms over the years, so this was very much a must see for me.

Alice Liddell as St. Agnes (September 1872) Julia Margaret Cameron

The Dream (1863) Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

I was aware of some of the history of his inspiration for the book. The BBC Documentary ‘Secrets of the Museum’ (available to watch on BBC iPlayer) discussed the V&As wonderful archive of original photographs, some of which were taken by Dodgson or are of Alice Liddell who is believed to be the inspiration behind the story. These photographs have a dream-like quality to them and a playfulness that comes across within the novel itself.

Towards the beginning of the exhibition, the original illustration plates also feature greatly and show the development of the drawings and how they changed over the years when depicting the story.

The rooms wander through a large number of the novels interpretations, such as the cartoon and live action Disney Movie versions; costume development, artist examples, dance, fashion and even food! (Search for Heston Blumethal’s reimagined tea party for his Fat Duck Restaurant). 

Some personal favourites were the Royal Opera House’s production of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (a wonderful show – a definite must see!) which is shown through costume drawings and the pieces themselves; the multiple collared ‘Alice’ look by Viktor and Rolf (featured in Annie Leibovitz’s Vogue shoot in 2003), and the 3D Iris Van Herpen garment (‘Infinity’ dress and ‘Omniverse’ Sculpture, 2019).

There is also a VR experience to join in with as well, but there was a separate wait time for this.

My only negative observation was that at times, the contents felt a bit disjointed. Some rooms felt like they ‘bounced’ between ideas at certain times, but this wasn’t throughout the whole exhibition. In the main the ideas flowed and the cohesion could be followed easily.

There is still time to explore this wonderful exhibition as it is still on show until 31^st December 2021. To book your tickets, head over to the V&A Museums website.