You may recall that late last year I visited Charlotte Smith and the Darnell Collection of antique and vintage clothing (you can see my previous post and a few snapshots here).

Quite a few people expressed interest in seeing the Collection, so I’m pleased to report that the Bendigo Art Gallery is about to open an exhibition of Victorian garments from the Collection, called “Fashion in the Age of Queen Victoria”.

Image shamelessly stolen from the Bendigo Art Gallery’s website - Trousseau dress 1881.

Details:
Where: Bendigo Art Gallery
When: 17th May to 20th July 2008
Admission fees apply.

This exhibition features a selection of Victoria era fashion showing the development of women’s clothing from crinolines to bustles towards the more liberated body shapes of the twentieth century. Curated by Tansy Curtin, this exhibition is exclusive to Bendigo Art Gallery.

The exhibition is accompanied by some special events including a talk by Charlotte, another by Tansy and also a screening of “Gone With the Wind”. Definitely worth a trip to Bendigo - further information can be found here at the Gallery’s site.

Part Three of our visit to Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

Loel has a wonderful collection of garments from this era, it was hard to pick just a few. The bold colours of the silks have been well preserved and are still striking after all these years. Loel researches all details thoroughly and styles the hair and mannequin to match each era.

1850s Crinoline

Click on the link to see more photos… (more…)

Part Two of our visit to Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

Here is a shot of part of the exhibition space:

I must admit to focusing on twentieth century costumes, and now wish I took more of the early pieces - here is an Empire line gown from about 1810 and a couple of Regency era costumes from about 1820.