Sex, Clothes & Rock n' Roll

At the weekend I visited the Royal Concert Hall, which was hosting a very special exhibition in celebration of Hard Rock Cafe announcing their plans for a Glasgow restaurant. Hard Rock Couture was a display of twenty iconic items of clothing from the Hard Rock archives and was open to the public for a limited period of time (from 16th-24th of August).   

Being a massive fan of both music and clothes, and as an enthusiastic visitor to Hard Rock Cafe's whenever I get the chance, I knew I had to  get along to the exhibition to see what legendary pieces were on show. The Boy and I went along early on the last day and managed to get a good look at everything before too many other people showed up.

The clothing worn by rock stars of past and present, along with other pieces of memorabilia such as journal pages and high school yearbooks, were spread out around the Island Bar area of the concert hall. Each display was housed in a special case designed to look like a flight case, giving the exhibition a real rock n' roll "on tour" feel.

The variety of clothing was very impressive, despite being a small collection, and I must admit I was geeking out a little being in the presence of some of the items worn by my heroes!

 With two cases of items worn by Elvis, The Boy was truly in his element. We also couldn't believe our luck when we came across jumpsuits worn by members of KISS and Motley Crue in the 1970s and 1980s. There was also a case containing Sid Vicious' iconic leather jacket and Madonna's gold Jean Paul Gaultier bodysuit, complete with conical bra. It was like getting up close and personal with some of our favourite music videos and album covers.

There were also stage costumes worn by more contemporary artists like Lady Gaga and The Killers. These outfits were a little less exciting for me personally (although I did squeal a little when I seen a sequined Katy Perry frock, because La Perry is the awesome exception to the rule) but they contributed nicely to a varied selection of pieces and lots of other visitors were excited to see them.

Nothing prepared me for what came at the end, and when I seen a flash of red I could feel a huge grin spreading across my face. This is it. The plaque read. The real one. It was only Michael Jackson's jacket from the Beat It video! It's not every Saturday morning you get to see such a piece of music and fashion history (and pose next to it shamelessly). Getting to see this item so closely was exciting, and was a great way to end our visit to the exhibition.

Hard Rock Couture was an interesting and fun exhibit and I'm glad we got to go and see it before it finished. I'm really excited that Glasgow will soon be home to it's very own Hard Rock Cafe too, and can't wait to visit it in November when it opens.


Did you visit Hard Rock Couture? What was your favourite item? Will you be visiting Hard Rock Cafe Glasgow when it opens?

Thanks for reading!