PRAGUE.- In the New Building of the National Museum, the visitors can travel in time. The recently opened exhibition Retro presents many historical dresses, fashion accessories, toys, household equipment and technology, from the 19th century to the Velvet Revolution. Dresses are introduced in the context of modern clothing of famous fashion designers, from fashion label boutiques to ready-to-wear clothing. Everything is set against contemporary backdrops that connect fashion with technology, designer furniture and the applied arts. Children have something to enjoy, too. Entertainment and an educational area called Retro playroom has been prepared for them. Parents can recall their childhood memories here. Visitors can look forward to a rich accompanying programme in the form of fashion shows, textile workshops and competition events. The exhibition will run until 30 April 2017.

From corsets to flared jeans
In recent years, the patterns and some of the styles, clothes and accessories of the past have been making a come-back; thanks to this, they are gaining a certain kind of timelessness, like the famous Coco Chanel suit, which is made to this day and is widely imitated. Coco Chanel herself commented on this fact: “I would cry if no one copied me.”

Fashion lovers can admire historical dresses at the exhibition, as well as modern-day clothing by famous fashion designers. The elegance of the individual pieces is underlined by the unusual way of installing the dresses on “invisible” manikins, made to fit the clothes.

Clothes are thematically grouped by type and the period in which they were worn. Moreover, they are placed against backdrops corresponding to the given period. Visitors will find themselves in the 19th century, for example, with its vogue for wire crinolines, corsets, dresses with wide skirts and petticoats. They will also enjoy the happy atmosphere of First Republic cabarets, with the extravagant costumes of burlesque dancers, and enter the sumptuous Müller villa with elegant and glamorous robes. There also are dresses with wide skirts from the 1950s and exotic silk clothes inspired by oriental fashions, mostly Chinese and Japanese. Last, but not least, there are the fashions typical of the 1970s and 1980s, showing, for example, flared jeans and jackets with shoulder pads.

An indispensable part of every outfit is made up of accessories, and that is why the exhibition includes collections of shoes, hats, handbags and fans.

Placed throughout the entire exhibition space are authentic historical objects in the form of furniture, technology, vehicles and fashion sketches, photographs and posters.

Life is a game
The exhibition includes a large Retro playroom, which is dedicated to children and active visitors. Families with children can enjoy not only entertaining games here, but also education. Children can try out a variety of family activities from the past, and their parents will surely enjoy the collection of toys that accompanied them through their childhood, like the Igráček figure and the Seva construction kit. In the selfie corner visitors will be able to have a photograph taken with a famous star of the silver screen, and the photograph will be sent to their e-mail address as a memento.

For the first time, the National Museum offers the option of using a supervised playroom for children, as is nowadays common in many public institutions, while the adults can fully enjoy their viewing of the exhibition.