Hussein Chalayan at the Design Museum, London

So, as a little post Christmas treat we headed off to London for a couple of days, to catch the last of the sales and a little bit of culture. We admired priceless gems at the Natural History Museum, checked out some cute bubble cars at the Science Museum and had a nice stroll along the South Bank, which brought us to the fabulous Design Museum, a little place which is often overlooked since London has so many great attraction on offer. We went for Hussein Chalayan exhibition, the first exhibition by this maverick designer, an ambitious retrospective of his collections since graduating from Central St Martins in 1993. We were not dissapointed. Turkish born Chalayan has a taste for the seemingly impossible, creating outfits from everything ranging from LED lights as you can see above, through to aeroplane parts! He also creates some very original short films which elaborate on the themes in his clothing, which were on show as part of the exhibition.

While you might not see too many of his pieces in the celebrity magazines, I was surprised at the softness of some of his work, such as this amazing pink dress made from thousands of layers of tulle bunched up to give an amazing architectural effect.

My favourite piece was this utterly bonkers coffee table dress, quite useful if you suddenly fancy a little picnic while out and about, and a true feat of design.