Symposium in the North Country: Town and Country Style

21st to 23rd September 2007

The weekend started with an especially exciting visit to the stately Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle. Joanna Hashagen, Curator of Costume & Textiles and Annabel Talbot, a young professional and winner of the Costume Society placement award, warmly greeted us and showed us the collection which sadly is not on display. Joanna explained the plans for the new gallery and storage areas which include Annabel’s placement being extended by the Bowes Museum. The textiles have been redisplayed and the new galleries of costume and lace may be ready by next August. The collections are fascinating and varied and we look forward to the new galleries. Joanna said that they do lack 19th century stays however.

Our first keynote speaker was a native of Newcastle, Kay Staniland who took us through Newcastle fashions with details of trade and merchants. A smart crowd benefiting from pocket books and merchandise imported into Newcastle and produce locally.

Naomi Tarrant followed with a look at Edinburgh as a wealthy, professional city and a case study of John Carse’s painting of 1812; The Visit of the Country Cousins. We studied a fairly simple but fashionable house, possibly in Edinburgh and note the dress and background of the town and country cousins. Dr Lee Clatworthy then spoke on Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston whose account books remain among the Ramsey papers at Brooklands House. They are in his hand and he also kept and engagement diary. There are details of everything from pineapples to waistcoats, buttons and gold lace. He purchase extra expensive clothes in certain years, 1739 is notable.

Grace Evans and Lydia Saul examined the Fashion House of Madame Clapham of Kingston Square, Hull. Some of her clothes are in the Chertsey Museums. The house expanded in 1891 and she certainly showed clothes in York and London so her clothes were probably worn quit e widely.

The student Design Awards were won Laura Vickers. As usual they were of a very high standard and there several very imaginative ideas.

The afternoon visit to The Discovery Museum was led by Curator, Caroline Whitehead who was generous with her time. We had a fascinating and enjoyable visit to the stores and the gallery. We were enthralled by the after dinner paper by Pat Poppy as we were guided through a “run” of Country Life Magazine and the changing attitude to fashion.

On Sunday morning we travelled through delightful country to the Beamish Open Air Museum, County Durham where we were given a warm welcome by Curator, Christine Stevens.

Lou Taylor widen the area of study by speaking about how she became interested in the lace and dress produced in Polish villages. She outlined the changes that have taken place since the days of folk art and state co-operatives to the present day when there is still great pride in regional folk art but some amazingly 21st century lace is made by women wearing the traditional married woman’s cap.

Dr Philip Sykas covered the essential subject of Fustian, something a symposium on country dress could not be without. Different types of this hard wearing cloth were produced at various times, some could be expensive.

Christine Rew spoke on the wardrobe of Frances Farquharson of Invercauld which is in the care of Aberdeen Museums and Art Gallery. A fashionable and very individual woman who wore Schiaperelli in the 1930s when she was an editor and colomnist and then her own version of Scottish country dress when she had a responsibilities in Scotland through her last marriage.

Elizabeth McCrum then guided us through the world of The Newsletter, published in Belfast from 1737. The readership is mainly “middle class” as the advertisements show, those for the 1740softten included stocks of millinery newly arrived in Dublin but by the 1760s local milliners were advertising. The weekend finished with another interesting tour of the museum with visits to the stores, farm houses and cottages.

We welcomed Charlotte Nicklas and Katy May who jointly won the Symposium award.

Congratulations to Linda Richards and her academic advisors; on an excellent symposium. Studying Four Hundred Years of Fashion. Anne Buck Memorial Study Day and the Presentation of the Patterns of Fashion Award. 12th May 2007 at The London College of Fashion.

Ann Saunders opened the day by saying that it was a celebration of the life and work of Anne Buck, whom she described as “a strong minded and splendid woman“. She continued to Anne Buck’s great contribution to the object based study of clothing, her devotion to the Costume Society of which she was a founder and Chairman, her generous sharing of research and encouragement to students. She told us of Anne’s single mindedness and straightforward approach to life. Her talk inspired personal memories in those who had known Anne and greater interest in those who had not.

Anthea Jarvis spoke on Anne Buck’s career starting with Luton Museum where she gained a grounding in museum practice and the lace and straw hat collections inspired her life long interest in costume. A tour of Scandinavian Museums led her to realise that they were ahead in collecting, conserving and displaying costume. In 1947 she moved to Platt Hall where she remained as curator until 1972, continuing to research there in her retirement. She started in an empty Platt Hall where she used the Scandinavian type of display figure which she preferred headless as she felt that faces detracted from the costume. She acquired the Cunnington Collection of Costume, the cataloguing of which occupied her and her assistants for several years. Acquisitions, cataloguing, the upgrading of displays and special displays were all completed with great care and attention to detail so that Platt Hall became famous for English and for working dress. It always played an active role in Manchester life through working with such organisations as the Cotton Board. The early series of Platt Hall books, with photographs of people wearing costumes, were described by Anthea as, “fondly remembered by many people”. The clothes are so well arranged that the pictures are timeless. Later Ann recognised the damage done by wearing costumes and assisted ICOM draw up guidelines on mounting dress. She was respected by I.C.O.M and museums world wide. Her major publications are highly valued for her clear understanding of three dimensional dress through; contemporary visual sources, research into how garments were made and use of written information. Anthea summed up by saying that Anne’s legacy is all around us in museums, the Costume Society, colleges, etc.

The next three talks were based on research for publications, very much in the spirit of Anne Buck. The study of visual sources, items of dress and written information was elaborated on by Susan North who spoke on; “Object Lessons: Applying material culture to the V&A Collections”, she dwelt on studies of 17th and 18th century dress. She gave a clear explanation of how material culture studies have to include the object based research of dress through study collections and displays, where the correct mounting of dress is so important. With regard to displays, she spoke of how a balance has to be maintained between those with highly specialised knowledge and the average audience. Publications are an area where greater details can be used. All this is based on Anne Buck’s ground breaking work on the study of and display of costume which continues today.

During the A.G.M, the Chairman, Valerie Cummings mentioned that Anne Buck had been one of the instigators of the dedication so often found in members of the Costume Society.

“Fit for a Princess; the trousseaux for British princesses in the nineteenth century” by Joanna Marschner included aspects of Royal apparel such as the poverty of Queen Victoria‘s childhood when The Duchess of Kent acquired debts in order to keep them well dressed. Victoria did not write much about dress but there are accounts and inventories. She always supported British suppliers and things were sent for approval from all over Britain. She also had diplomatic gifts such as Kashmir shawls. The trousseaux of her daughters, the princesses were covered by the press. Several firms were always favoured. For the younger princesses there are more bills for dressmakers and tailors and fewer for the supply of fabrics from mercers, in keeping with the change in retailing in favour of department stores. Queen Victoria saw herself as an unconfident follower of fashion rather than a leader. Her jewels and decoration showed her status as Empress of India and “grandmother” of Europe.

Rosemary Harden talked about the exhibition and publication she is preparing for the Museum of Costume, Bath. “Floral Frocks; A celebration of the printed floral dress in the 20th century.” She wore a home made floral frock which she is lending to the display. She started by tracing the fashion for floral prints from the eighteenth century, the periods when they were not much used and then the increasing fashion for them from the 1920s. From the 1950s, when everyone aspired to have at least one, there are several fascinating examples of dresses with photos of them being worn. One wearer commented that this was not her best dress but her favourite dress. This talk featured very everyday people and their attitude to fashion. Rosemary finished by saying that she hoped that we had enjoyed her talk, we certainly had.

The day finished with the announcement of the winners of the Patterns of Fashion Award. We had already viewed the four excellent, short listed entries. The Judge, Jenny Tiramani looked especially at; the choice of materials, the sewing techniques and the interpretation of the pattern. She had great difficulty, it was impossible to choose between Katie Wright from Wimbledon College of Art and Caroline Lloyd from The Arts Institute, Bournemouth, so two awards were given this year. Sophie Khan and Holly Waters-Dewhurst from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama were strong runners up. Thus ended a day enjoyable, inspiring and informative in many different ways, just as Anne Buck would have wanted.