Victoria and Albert Museum works with Coast on line of 6 ballgowns

Model Suki Waterhouse shows off the latest looks from Coast, designed in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum. In May last year, London's Victoria and Albert Museum put on a hugely successful "Ballgowns" exhibition which showed off designs from up-and-coming creative talents like Erdem and Christopher Kane alongside some industry heavyweights including Alexander McQueen. Following on from this show (which ended in January this year), the museum has teamed up with occasionwear label Coast to launch a selection of six dresses inspired by the classic looks in the V&A's extensive collections. "These gowns will give the opportunity for customers to indulge in a little piece of fashion history," the V&A's business development and licensing director Lauren Sizeland told Vogue. The retro designs take their design cues from classic 1930s and 1950s eveningwear ballgowns, with elegant satin detailing and hand-finished touches. Coast's head of design Kim Elliot said that the inspiration for the collection "came from vintage dresses, beautiful and iconic fashion photography images and delving into the drawers of fashion history." Starting at £550 (€650), the ballgowns went on sale this week in four Coast stores and online. Founded in the UK, fashion brand Coast has 52 standalone stores and 185 concessions in the UK and Ireland, as well as 147 international locations.