Overview

This review is of the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition which is on at the V and A. The exhibition is sold out, however, look out for some additional tickets being released. Wonderful curated exhibition with gallery after gallery of beautiful dresses, showcasing Dior fashions from the 1940s to the present day. The exhibition is step free. Updated now on until Sunday 1 September 2019.

Transport & Parking

The nearest tube station South Kensington is not step free. Although the Piccadilly, District and Circle line stop there all the platforms involve steps to the ticket office hall level and then further steps to street level. This is really disappointing. There are a number of buses that stop outside or near to the V and A. I would suggest picking up bus no 14 from Green Park which is an step free station.

Access

The Dior exhibition is on in the Sainsbury Gallery and the nearest entrance is Exhibition Road. This is the entrance you will need to use if you visit the gallery outside the V and A's regular open hours. Exhibition Road has a step free entrance. This was the first time I had used this entrance and I found the step free pathway a little off putting. The surface is tiled. The tiles have a texture to them (see photo), however if the surface had been wet I would have found it difficult with my crutch to negotiate, especially as there is no hand rail to assist. When I was exiting in the dark I found it quite difficult to tell gradient of the slope as I got near to the exit. The tiles on the edges of the slope have obvious ridges in them (see photo) which are helpful to mark the boundry of the path. I entered the building using a manual door. There was a queue for the exhibition. There is a flight of stairs with hand rails down to the exhibition. I asked where I needed to go and I was directed to the lift and on exiting the lift, a member of staff opened the cord and let me join the queue, so I had not needed to join the main queue. The exhibition is popular and sold out. Entrance is by timed ticket. The exhibition is step free and is all on one level, with no ramps or slopes. There are 10 galleries ranging from large to small. However there were queues in most rooms to view the items. In some of the rooms there are only clothes to see and in others clothes plus cabinets with memorabilia. Some of the rooms have quite low level lighting. There were a couple of places where instead of information being on the cabinet there were large cards on the sides of the cabinet which I found a little difficult to carry with my crutch. In other places the information panels were too low down for me to read comfortably. Wheelchairs are fold up stools are available but I didn't notice them, so not obvious. There is no where to sit until the 5th gallery, look out for the Egyptian influnced clothes with a costume with the head of Anubis. When I got there I found the seating had no back support. This was the same in another gallery, it was only in second to last gallery that was seating with back support.

Toilets

There are accessble toilets but I didn't use them.

Staff

Staff were helpful and directed me to the lifts.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The exhibition is stunning and impressive. If you like clothes you will love the exhibition. I found it quite difficult walking with my crutch due to the queues I had to stand waiting and I found the exhibition quite tiring. It would be really helpful if the V and A would consider for its sell out shows to have special disabled accessible slots, which would make it easier for disabled people to access the exhibition in smaller groups. Overall it was a very accessible venue with a few small things they could do to improve the visit for disabled people. I highly recomemend the Doir exhibition. I would advise it would take 1.5 - 2 hours to go round due to the amount of things to see (it's a big exhibition) and factor in the waiting in line to view the individual items on display. Photography is permitted so remember to bring your camera.

Photos