2006 Winchester Symposium

Masculine Dress from Codpiece to Burberry Costume Society Symposium - Winchester 2006

Report by Sylvia Ayton, Lindsay Evans Robertson, Jill Salen and Christine Stevens

In a darkened room, in sweltering heat, above an ancient hallowed town, fleeting images flicker, a hushed voice intones. Sage worthies and eager young join in contemplation. Is a it a new-age cult, a celebration of some ancient mystic rite?

No - it’s the S Y M P 0 S I U M. Why it is called the symposium is a matter of conjecture. At least, let us be glad that our founders did not adopt the word colloquium!

On a hot summer weekend about a hundred members gathered in Winchester to enjoy a symposium on menswear. To our sorrow, but no doubt to her relief, it was the final symposium often memorable symposia organised by Judy Tregidden.
 
It all began in the afternoon on Friday with a visit to the TCC: not a medical affair, you understand, but the Textile Conservation Centre situated in this beautiful city. The TCC was founded in 1975 by Karen Finch, OBE, at Hampton Court Palace before merging with the University of Southampton. We were elegantly greeted by Nell Hoare, Director of the Centre. She spoke to us of the work that this major international centre for textile conservation, research and education undertakes, commercially and educationally. We were told of the range of postgraduate programmes, of PHD and post doctorial opportunities and of the high quality teaching by the best practitioners in the field.

The tour of the workrooms began with the commercial conservation team working on a school banner from the Oldham Gallery. The work in hand was explained clearly and many questions answered. Then we viewed the individual work of the 2 year MA students ranging from a tapestry seat to an alter cloth in a beautiful brocaded velvet. A final year student was working on an embroidered, long-sleeved Turkish jacket to be displayed in a very strangely shaped box which would allow the sleeves to be laid flat. The l years students’ work showed the wide range of treatments they would have to master to be able to deal with items from embroidered samplers to fragile fabrics: every year beautiful whitework is dirtied so that students can learn how to make them white again. Finally, we viewed the technical workshops and were intrigued by such items such as an infra-red spectroscope for the microscopic analysis of fibres. It was a most generous visit. We were all impressed us by the patience and calmness of the staff and students.

Dinner was followed by the pleasure of hearing Dr. Ann Saunders skilfully weave human stories from her recently published history of the Merchant Taylors’ Company. It was delivered with that great panache which we have come to expect from our esteemed Editor. This was followed by an overview of the collections of the Hampshire Museums Service, delivered by the academic co-coordinator of the Symposium, Alison Carter, with some quite risque asides, to our surprised delight.

Then, on Saturday morning , the conference started in earnest: the codpieces were out. Dr. Maria Hayward presented a memorable talk on the wardrobe of that most Tudor of monarchs, Henry VIII. The research was superb and the content fascinating. Then,

Essex Man, again the Tudor period, was presented in his final hours and in his legacies by Ninya Mihaila and Dr. Jane Malcolm-Davies. This is what we had come to the Symposium for, the objects and the research which brings alive the history of Costume.

And so it went on. Macushla Goacher presented very individual research on century embroidery on men’s waistcoats. Dr. Lesley Miller puzzled us, and led us into foreign territories with her talk on an heir-in-waiting called Charles: Carlos, a Bourbon and in Spain. Fascinating as this was some of us wished it might have been on another, a more contemporary Charles, but that might not have been half as glamorous or intriguing and there would have been no paintings by Goya.

 Between all this we had the great pleasure of seeing four very individual collections of menswear. We tizzied between historic menswear from Bedales School, the glories of Joyce Meader’ s knitting patterns of the mid 20 century, Mary Keer’ s collection of wonderful waistcoats and the extraordinary collection of copies of Burberry clothes worn by George Mallory while making his assault on Everest in 1924. The garments were supported by splendid research by Vanessa Anderson.

That afternoon we assembled in the old farmyard of Chilcomb House under the shade of the only tree! There, to welcome us, was Sue Washington, keeper of costume and textiles with Sarah Howard, conservator and a number of other kind curators and volunteers. The efficient ‘labelled group with the sheepdog’ system worked like a dream and everyone manages to see everything and even get to sit down with a much- needed glass of cold water. The range of items was impressive, ranging from shoes and hats in the accessories store, smocks and Burberrys in another room and men’s women’s and children’ s clothing including a child’s lovely arts and crafts velvet dress. Highlights were the items in the conservation workroom, especially the waistcoat decorated with the goddess Diana surrounded by spangles and stars with which we had already had our appetites whetted the evening before. Out thanks go to Alison, Sue and Sarah and all the team for their generosity and enthusiasm and, Yes, we do all appreciate how long it takes to put everything away again.

While delegates enjoyed this the Education Sub-Committee organised a presentation of the work of the three finalists in the newly styled Patterns of Fashion Award. These were to be judged by the delegates on their return so that a winner could be announced at the weekend. Overwhelmingly, the delegates chose Sophie Howard’s 1901 dress, It was a difficult choice as all three dresses were very professional and accomplished.

Dinner was made the more memorable by the request that delegates wear hats: it was the Hat Fair in Winchester that weekend! It gave us the opportunity to admire a delicious confection, the tiniest of hats worn with great style by Judy Tregidden and to pun on the time for Judy to hang up her hat after ten memorable Symposia. It is perhaps kinder not to mention some of the more outré models, especially that Flanders Field job. Then, dances which Jane Austen would have joined in all too readily, but then Jane would have known how to dance these round dances. We had to struggle under the eagle eye of Elspeth Reed and her dancers. Oh, but what fun we had!

Sunday?

Well, we have to have an AGM and our Chairman, Valerie Cumming made it painless and quick. New trustees were voted in, reports delivered and our finances satisfactorily scrutinised. Then, back to the programme. Dr. Miles Lambert, so recently granted his doctorate, spoke on men’s ready-made clothing in the 18 century, expanding our knowledge of this as yet insufficiently researched field. Something about a Sailor was the title of Anthea Jarvis’s talk on the sailor suit for boys in the period between 1860 and 1914. It was wonderfUlly researched, so logically presented and supported by rare images. There are highs and lows in all conferences: this was a high. It was neatly matched by Dr. Alison Matthews David’s talk on military uniform and the gradual and logical change from glorious, braided and embroidered dress to the mudlarks in their khakis. And, of course, there has to be a low. Clare Rose’s talk was unabashedly marred by that scourge of all public and private places, the mobile phone. Bad enough but, imagine, it was the speaker’s! It was such a shame: her talk on ready-to-wear tailoring in the latter 19th century was so interesting but all that remains in one’s thoughts are that unforgivable, burbling sound.

Sunday afternoon gave us just two more speakers. Diane Maglio’s talk on New York swells in silken underwear in shades of lemon, turquoise and black made us look at those elegant Whistler portraits with a secret smile as we imagined what could have been painted. Equally mysterious was the question whatever happened to Biba Man? We shall never know. Despite a whole floor of that vast shop devoted to men’s clothes, accessories and toiletries Emmanuelle Dirix had been unable to find any man who would confess to having worn Biba Man. Are all our pillars of society in their sober suits ashamed to confess to those wild years before conformity, mortgage and grandchildren struck?

Then, real clothes designed by young students at the Winchester School of Art. The Student Fashion Awards concentrated on one garment, the coat. Under Sylvia Ayton’ s inspired leadership and tutor John Hopkins excellent tuition we were treated to a huge diversity of stylish ideas imaginatively and beautifully constructed. It is so valuable to look forward as well as backwards, to history and to history in the making. This is what we value, embrace in our lives and what we come to the Symposium for. And then it was all over for another year.

Of course, seasoned Symposium delegates know that one of the great pleasures of the Symposia has always been the networking, the renewing of acquaintances, the making of new friends and meeting yet more people with a specialised interest in costume. That, alone, makes attending the symposia worth while. The rest is glorious icing on the cake. As was the impromptu concert that happened late Sunday evening. Chris Godfrey’s imminent zero birthday might have had something to do with it. He was asked to sing, others showed hidden talents. Recitations, bawdy civil war songs, jokes, riddles, mellifluous voices from our USA delegates, the delight that people such as of Bridget Marrow, Pat Poppy, Sylvia Ayton, Caroline Vincent and Mark Hutter gave, and there was dancing into the small hours.

The Symposium may have be over, but the Symposium Workshops were fully booked. Monday’s programme presented two very different workshops. In his workshop Graham Cottenden introduced us to Century tailoring with slides of paintings and examples of half toiles which showed the importance of the pitch of the sleeve and the cross-back width. The 1 century man’s sleeves had no head: underarm fullness acted like a gusset. Then, to pad stitching. Delegates had brought sewing equipment and fabrics and Graham demonstrated how to lay bias canvas on bias cloth, tack on the fold and start the pad stitching which gentle curves the collar.

In Ninya Mikhaila’s workshop we entered a Tudor shop greeted by the appropriately dressed mistress of the premises surrounded by her wares. A widow, but she owns the shop and knows her craft. There were jackets in the fashionable shape, padded and stuffed and quilted. Pinking and slashing decorated these handmade items and we were shown how to turn a wool or silk into an exquisite and fragile textile. Embossed silks and velvets added rich patterns: we found out how to emboss patterns. We were shown an embroidered and embossed codpiece made into a pincushion! We were given a pattern. We tried our hands at that. I wonder how many were actually made into pincushions or were to be the real things? Alison Carter actually bought one, but as a pincushion, you understand. It would have been envied by King Henry VIII.

And at last it was all over. Your well-deserved congratulations have poured in for Judy Tregidden. Ten years is a long time to concentrate on organising conferences, particularly such complex events as the Symposia. flow well Judy has co-ordinated them all. Next year we will meet at a different time and in a different place. We look forward to seeing you there.

This report has been written by Sylvia Ayton, Lindsay Evans Robertson, Jill Salen and Christine Stevens. We hope that you have enjoyed reading it