Discovery Museum Newcastle, LBD Collection

As I have now finished uni for the summer I thought it would be a good idea to spend my summer blog posts for what I have done and seen in the past, some projects that I may talk about will be from years ago but I feel that if I critique them very strictly and pick pointers then I will be able to see how I have progressed areas that still have room for progression, and development and also looking at things I have attended, places and visited and things iv seen, what ideas and methods do I like or find interesting in order to help my skills and knowledge grow and develope! So my first blog of the summer will reflect on a visit I had a few years ago, but I could still use the information for future projects.  

On the 3^rd of October 2012 the discovery museum Newcastle opened up their amazing fashion archives for our class to go and visit. We were all studying our second year of FdA Fashion at Newcastle College. After a lovely long summer off we straight away got stuck into our latest brief of ‘The Little Black Dress’, and to start us off we started to research into the subject which is normally the most important part, seeing where it first started, how? Why? And how it has evolved over time, and the reasons for certain changes in the garment and changes in the fashion trends.   

So, back to our visit, although the main focus of the museum is science and the Tyne side’s history the fashion is maybe forgotten about a little I thought until we were taking into the huge archives. Everything was neatly wrapped and preserved in boxes and referenced in dates and categorised. Straight away without seeing anything specific I was blown away with the amount of things that they had and size of the room that we were in, and on the other hand I was extremely disappointed that I would not be able to have a good look through everything!!! (Although I feel I would have been there for a long time if this was the case).

            We met two very kind ladies Joan Milne and Fiona Southern. Who had laid out a miniature collection of the little black dresses for us to have a look at to take some photographs and sketch from. We had to put of aprons and gloves so that if we were to get close to the garments of even touch them to see a part of the dress we would not damage them. They had gotten a large range out from different decades/ time periods/ styles for us to have a look at and a few that they explained to us were worn by a signer from the north east. The women were very knowledgeable about the garments for example the way they were made for the lady on stage so she could move ect.

The bottom of this dress above was fringed, which would have made such special shapes when worn on stage, there was also red stitching when we looked closer which showed that the garment could have been slightly too big for the wearer, and the fact that it was red thread again showed that with certain details it simply did not matter as it would not have been so noticeable. (Again I loved how person this visit was as I may not have known about that if it wasn’t right under my nose). 

Been able to see all the different garments was fantastic, especially how we could get up close and see the details which with some of the earlier pieces would have all been done by hand without today’s technology. Also it was good to see up close how the silhouettes of the dresses have changes over the years, and actually feel the weight of some of the dresses which the modern day working mother simply could not wear for its impracticality. I mainly looked at the detailing again just more of a fascination to think how much time would have to have been put into each piece.

This dress we were told seemed to be the oldest and was more than likely to have been a night gown, although when we got a closer look there was a lot of work gone into the garment, and seemed to be very heavy which is strange to think people would sleep in a garment which would have been so uncomfortable.

Here are some other dresses in the collection that they Joan and Fiona had gotten out for us to see, again it fantastic to see up and close how the garments had changed and developed, and what parts stayed the same. 

Joan and Fiona also explained how on the older dresses (before it became fashionable) how certain mistakes would have been over looked as a result of the garment would have only been seen by candle light nit like the bright bulbs we have today.  The dress below was a Fenwick’s original copy of Dior’s 1950’s New Look, just after the Second World War. There was such an up roar about how much fabric was included when some people where still been rationed and the fact that I have seen and touched it, was pretty incredible.

I really enjoyed the visit for the fact that we could actually see the garments up close rather than an old photograph from an internet search, it was more personal I felt and that fact that the women knew so much and that we could chat with them and ask questions was fantastic (you cannot get a chat from an internet search).Also It showed that the women were very excited to be able to show off their beautiful archives to people who were interested rather than boxed up all year round. It was a really good opportunity and I am pleased that I got to see it. Hopefully future projects will mean another returning visit to the museum to see what else they had hidden in their large wardrobe of a look into the past.