Hi all,

I’m organising a group to see Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

Loel is a private collector who has dedicated her time and resources to the collection, preservation and display of two hundred years of Australian fashion. Many of her pieces were included in my book Love Vintage. I’m sure that she has the best collection of Australian fashion in the country, as well as jewellery, accessories and lace. There’s also an impressive tea cosy collection!

When: Wednesday 17th February at 7pm.
Where: The Costume Collection, 39 Greenaway Street, Bulleen.
What: Tour and talk on 200 years of Australian fashion.
Cost: $5 which Loel donates to a local nursing home.
Bookings: call Circa on 9419 8899

For those who are interested in social history, the history of fashion or just beautiful clothes, I thoroughly recommend this visit. Numbers are limited and RSVP is essential.

Here are some links to photos that I took on previous visits – please note that Loel often changes the displays so you might see some of these but you’ll probably see others from her collection of over 3,000 pieces:
Early 19th century dress.
Victorian era.
Edwardian era.
1920s dress.
1930s dress.
1940s dress.
1950s dress.
Swimwear.

1950s swimwear from Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection.

UPDATE 8th Feb: As sufficient numbers have been received to fill the group, we’re now taking names for any one who might be interested in a second tour, hopefully in the next few weeks. Please call the shop on 9419 8899. Thank you.

I’m pleased that the oldest piece in my personal collection is now on display at the City Museum for an exhibition on womens dress.

Details:
What: What Women Wore: Fashion at a glance 1820-1960
When: October 2009 – February 2010
Where: City Museum, Treasury Building, Spring Street (top of Collins Street) Melbourne
Cost: Adult $8.50 Concession $5

I acquired this in 1989 from a Sydney private collector, the crimson silk gown dates from the late 1820s – for twenty years I had thought it was the 1830s but when I recently unpacked it from the hundred or so layers of acid-free tissue paper in which I bedded it down in 1991, I looked at it with new eyes. I now consider that it is a bit earlier – it has the very full sleeves of the 1830s but not quite full enough and also a higher waistline and slight bustle at the rear formed by tightly stitched cartridge pleats.

Pre-dating the sewing machine, the entire gown is hand stitched and trimmed with piping. The lining is a fine linen and it secures up the back via hooks and eyes. Apart from a small bit of silverfish damage (which arrived before we met) and a fraying hem (suggesting it was too long for it’s last wearer) it’s in excellent condition. I have a few gowns from around 1860s-1880s and they haven’t fared as well as this one, which I find remarkable. The gown itself is both small and tall for the time – I suspect it was worn by a tall adolescent as it has very little bust shaping, it may have gone on to be worn by a second wearer, who was less tall. It’s currently displayed on a mannequin sized for a five year old child and it’s too small to do up properly at the back.

I’m still stunned to find such an early garment in Australia – even now with the wonders of collecting via the web, these items are hard to find. This is the first time it’s been displayed and I shall be keeping an eye on it – although the exhibition goes for six months, this gown will be evaluated for light fading and may not stay for the whole exhibition.

Next up in the small but striking display is an amazing blue and silver gown from the 1860s – this is from the wonderful collection of Seams Old. I love the strong colours of this one, and the condition is remarkable, almost perfect. It stands in glorious contrast to the simpler gown of the earlier time. Then we have an oyster silk gown from the late bustle era, 1880s. The detailing is wonderful, and it reminds me of the paintings of Tissot – this one too is from Seams Old, as is the 1890s silk mourning gown that you will see next.

In the next room you will see some gowns of the twentieth century – a silk devore from the ’20s (as featured in Love Vintage book) and a hand-embroidered Chinese silk coat. I wore this to the opening of the NGV’s Black in Fashion exhibition last year, where it caught the esteemed eye of Zandra Rhodes.

The 1950s are represented by one of my personal favourites: a couture silk twill polka dot dress from local fashion house Le Louvre. This dress is also featured in Love Vintage and has impressive quality and construction. I suspect it originally came with a matching belt – I love the way that pieces of spotted fabric are centred over buttons, and it has a self-cravat (which can be tied in a small bow or left loose like this).

As for the 1960s, you’ll have to pop down to the City Museum to see what’s in store!

As well as Circa having some gowns on display, the Love Vintage book will be available for sale at the gift shop and I will be doing a couple of talks about vintage – Friday February 19th at 6pm and Thursday February 25th at 1pm. More news about them will follow as details are finalised.

I’ve just had a bit of a holiday and so my in-box is rather full. Apologies to anyone who’s emailed me, I shall get back to you shortly – in the meantime there is a backlog of events so stay tuned for more announcements.

In a few weeks, Sydney will be hosting the first Silent Film Festival:
Join us in the glamour and the emotions of the 2009 Australia’s Silent Film Festival taking place in Sydney on October 15, 18, 24 and 25th at the sublime Dixson Room and Metcalfe Auditorium, both at the State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street Sydney.

More information can be found at the website. You might like to see the programme which includes Keaton, Chaplin, Garbo and local major films The Story of the Kelly Gang and The Sentimental Bloke.

Not to be missed.

Gorgeous image of favourite Louise Brooks courtesy Australia’s Silent Film Festival.

Whilst we’re on a cycling theme, thought I’d show you these images that I found. I’m afraid that I can’t provide any information about them though, except to say that they were probably posted to various Livejournal communities and were saved without details. If you know anything, please let me know.

Hope you like them too.

As you know, I do lots of hand washing to keep Circa full of vintage goodies – and this time of year when the sky clouds over and rain falls at least a little on most days, it becomes hard to keep up with demand. Lately we’ve been particularly short of dresses as dry cleaning has been the only way to keep up, and many fabrics are better when they’ve been laundered and dried in a sunny and breezy backyard.

My priority this week has been to catch up on my washing. Yesterday I spent the day at my circa 1942 green porcelain kitchen sink, hard at it. When the weather isn’t great it can take up to two days for them to dry so this morning (during a burst of sunlight) I snuck out there and took a few pics of what will soon be available in the shop. Note that they’ll look much better when they’ve been ironed and mended!

Bow ties – these are dried flat on a towel so that they don’t get peg marks on them.

Scarves – silks and acetates from the ’40s to the ’80s. Nice and colourful despite the cloudy day!

Edwardian chemise, Edwardian tea gown, nylon petticoats and 1930s wedding dress. Behind you can just see a brilliant yellow late ’30s ballgown.

Part four of the series of photos taken at Loel Thomson’s Costume Collection on Monday.

I’ve taken “Edwardian” to cover the period from 1900 to 1920, and it encompasses one of my favourite eras, the “teens”. Garments from the teens are hard to find, however, and most of these come from the earlier part of the era.

In many ways, the Edwardian era is the last one of grandeur – it’s the transition between the ornate and detailed hand-made and hand-finished clothing of the Victorians and the ’20s when all the rules went out the window. Whilst quite wearable, clothes of this era tend to look very “costumey” on the modern wearer.

1912 Wedding

More pics below the link: (more…)