On view at the Saco Museum, Saco, Maine
May 13 - August 27, 2017
Sumptuous fabrics, vibrant colors and textures, masses of
elaborate trims - all are defining elements of fashionable Victorian women's
clothing. Nineteenth-century designers had very definite ideas of what
constituted beauty, and these concepts had a widespread impact on art and
design. Embellishments in Victorian
Fashion focuses on how nineteenth-century aesthetics influenced women's
clothing design and construction. A
variety of Victorian design concepts are examined in detail, including
self-trim, color and texture contrasts, ruching, pleating, ribbon work, and
asymmetry.
Curator Astrida Schaeffer notes: “This is a greatly expanded
exhibition from the original Embellishments show, exploring the nine design
building blocks with garments from five institutions. For most of the clothes,
this is a rare opportunity to be seen by the public, and having them together
in this way not only showcases their beauty, but gives the elements of their
design a context. In a way, the exhibition is a giant scavenger hunt — is that
piping there? Look at that texture contrast! The wonderful techniques and the
textures, fabrics, and colors offer an inspiration for anyone interested in
fashion and design.”
The exhibition features fifty garments from five
institutions in Maine and New Hampshire: the Saco Museum, the Irma Bowen
Textile Collection of the University of New Hampshire, the Portsmouth
Historical Society, Strawbery Banke Museum, and the Woodman Institute of Dover,
New Hampshire.
Astrida Schaeffer has been making reproduction historical
clothing since 1986 and museum mannequins since 1998. Her recent book, Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail, focused on the UNH
Irma Bowen collection and has received high praise. Astrida holds a Master of
Arts in History from the University of New Hampshire with a focus on material
culture and museum studies, and was assistant director at the UNH Museum of Art
for ten years, where she was responsible for collections care, exhibition installation,
and object preparation. She trained in mannequin production at the Textile
Conservation Center in Lowell, MA and with the Northern States Conservation
Center.
Lecture:
How Victorians Got So
Fancy
Friday, August 18, 6:00 p.m.
How Victorians Got So Fancy will be the final program in our Embellishments in Victorian Fashion summer exhibit. In this program, guest curator Astrida Schaeffer will focus on the silvery grey 1870s day dress made and owned by Celestia Freeman of Somersworth, New Hampshire. Freeman was the wife of a mill overseer who likely saw this dress as a way of marking her status in the new community she moved to with her husband. Schaeffer will use Freeman's well preserved dress to explore the development of the sewing machine, the importance of pre-made patterns, and the effects of the fashion magazine industry.
Friday, August 18, 6:00 p.m.
How Victorians Got So Fancy will be the final program in our Embellishments in Victorian Fashion summer exhibit. In this program, guest curator Astrida Schaeffer will focus on the silvery grey 1870s day dress made and owned by Celestia Freeman of Somersworth, New Hampshire. Freeman was the wife of a mill overseer who likely saw this dress as a way of marking her status in the new community she moved to with her husband. Schaeffer will use Freeman's well preserved dress to explore the development of the sewing machine, the importance of pre-made patterns, and the effects of the fashion magazine industry.
For more about Astrida Schaeffer and Schaeffer Arts, see: http://www.schaefferarts.com/exhibition-embellishments-constructing-victorian-detail/
For details about the exhibition and the Saco Museum, see: http://www.sacomuseum.org/mus_current_exhibits_temp.shtml?id=EuApFyAluyCerpUNRW
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