C is for... Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World @ National Portrait Gallery
Details
"The truly fashionable are beyond fashion." (Cecil Beaton)
Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for the 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World' exhibition...
Cecil Beaton – ‘The King of Vogue’ – was an extraordinary force in the 20th-century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a fashion illustrator, Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist and writer, Beaton elevated fashion and portrait photography into an art form.
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World is the first exhibition dedicated solely to Beaton’s ground-breaking contributions to fashion and portrait photography. The exhibition showcases Beaton at his most triumphant – from the Jazz Age and the Bright Young Things, to the high fashion brilliance of the fifties and the glittering, Oscar-winning success of My Fair Lady. Via London, Paris, New York and Hollywood, his era-defining photographs captured beauty, glamour, and star power in the interwar and early post-war eras.
With over 200 items displayed, including photographs, letters, portrait sketches, fashion illustration and costume, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World features portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most iconic figures, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret; as well as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí.
https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2025/cecil-beaton/
MEET DETAILS:
FROM 1.45pm: MEET IN NPG AUDREY CAFE (optional)
Join us for a coffee in the ground floor cafe before we head into the exhibition.
Address: St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE
2.30pm: ENTER THE EXHIBITION, FLOOR 0
4.15pm - Late: PUB SOCIAL (optional)
We'll head to a nearby pub (location tbc) for a social chit chat over drinks.
TICKETS:
Book your ticket here and select the 2.30pm time slot (or around that time).
Adults: £23
Adults with Art Pass: £11.50
Disabled Admission: £20.70
Universal Credit: £11.50
NPG Members: Free - no need to book
GETTING THERE:
Address: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Nearest train stations: Charing Cross
Nearest tube stations: Charing Cross, Leicester Square
https://www.npg.org.uk/visit/
EVENT WHATSAPP GROUP:
If you are on the 'going' list only please join the event WhatsApp group to help you find the group on the day. Link will be shared in the event comments below 48 hours before the day.
Joining this WhatsApp group will make your phone number visible to other members in the group.
GROUP ETIQUETTE AND RULES:
- LoMAZ events are run by volunteers. We have an attendee limit to help the host manage the event. We prefer a smaller, friendlier group.
- Once all the spaces are taken, Meetup adds you to the Waitlist. If someone drops out, waitlisted attendees are automatically moved to the 'Going' list by Meetup in order of priority.
- If you can no longer attend, please change your RSVP to 'Not Going' as soon as possible. Then someone on the waitlist can take your place.
We remove members from the LoMAZ Meetup group who:
- RSVP as ‘Going' but then do not show up three times in a row.
- RSVP as ‘Going' but then change their RSVP to 'No' five times in a row.
- Are on the Waitlist or who have not RSVPd, but turn up anyway.
Thank you for your interest in the group & being part of LoMAZ.
Image credit: No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons