All aboard the Ocean Liners exhibition at the V&A

Ever find yourself watching ‘Titanic’ and thinking to yourself, ‘those were the days’ — aside from the whole hitting an iceberg and sinking bit? The hand-carved staircases, the elaborate chandeliers, the high-quality linens, the fine China — those were the days of travelling in style…

First rate

Now, you can submerge yourself in all that former opulence with the grand Ocean Liners: Speed and Style exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, on until 17 June. Among the many halls encompassing the exhibit, you can find a wall of TV screens projecting nothing but the sea, as if you’re on the top deck of the HMS Queen Mary, a swimming platform with mannequins donning fashions from the 1920s and ’30s, large-scale models and vintage posters of cruise liners, and the largest artefact from the Titanic — a wooden panel fragment from the now iconic first-class lounge door, which has been hotly debated for the past 20 years as to whether it was big enough to fit both Rose and Jack (it was!).

To find out how big the door really is, as well as all the wonderful things that ocean liners have brought to the modern world, visit the Victoria & Albert Museum now — before it sets sail to a new location.

Photos: Victoria & Albert Museum