May 09
A new display of modern fashion opens at Bath and North East
Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum on Saturday 2 May 2009.
This is an edited selection of the Fashion
Museum’s famous Dress of the Year
collection, and features work by the great names of fashion in the
last 40 years or so, including Mary Quant, Jean Muir, John Galliano
and Versace.
“This is a great chance for visitors to the
Fashion Museum to see some of the real treasures of Bath
& North East Somerset Council’s collection”, said Fashion
Museum Manager, Rosemary Harden.
“The Dress of the Year collection began
in 1963 when the then Museum of Costume opened in Bath, and over
the years we have been fortunate enough to attract the support of
the top names in international fashion”.
Each year the Fashion Museum asks a fashion
expert to choose their top fashion outfit or look of the year for
the collection. Over the years, this initiative has often captured
the iconic look of the season as perceived at the time, before the
hand of history has influenced perceptions. The Dress of the Year
collection now numbers over 50 pieces along with show-stopping
accessories, and this summer the museum is presenting a special
edited display for visitors.
The display includes the very first Dress of
the Year, a grey flannel button-through pinafore dress by Mary
Quant from 1963, chosen by The Fashion Writers’ Association. It is
worn with a cream silk tie collar blouse, grey pork-pie style hat
and a pair of spiky heeled kinky boots.
From 1974, there is a softly tailored knit
suit by design duo Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. The pearly grey and
burnt umber tones of the knitted skirt, jacket, top and scarf
reflect the more natural colours fashionable in the early
1970s.
From the 1980s there is a black and white
woven cotton check strapless dress worn with a dark coloured shirt
and matching coat designed by John Galliano in 1987; and from the
1990s a pair of Alexander McQueen’s infamous ruby-red bumster
trousers from 1996, which have influenced trouser fashion ever
since.
The display enters the 21st century
with the glamorous bamboo leaf print evening dress by Versace,
famously worn by Jennifer Lopez at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles
in 2000.
All of the Dress of the Year mannequins since
1963 have been provided by Adel Rootstein Display Mannequins. The
mannequins for the display in summer 2009 have been styled by Iain
R Webb, who has acted as consultant on the show.
Alongside the Dress of the Year selections,
there will be a wall of selected album covers from 1963 to 2000
illustrating the connection between the fashion experts’ choices on
display and the styles and trends in fashions of the time.
The display has been arranged this summer to
co-incide with the unveiling of new selections for the Dress of the
Year collection. The Dress of the Year for 2006, 2007 and 2008 will
be revealed on 2 May 2009.
Log on to the Fashion Museum website for more
information http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/
. The Museum is open daily 10.30 – 5pm, exit 6pm.
ENDS
For more information contact:
Rosemary Harden, Fashion Museum Manager on 01225 477282 oe email:
rosemary_harden@bathnes.gov.uk
For more images contact:
Maggie Bone, Museums Publicity Officer on 01225 477736, or email:
maggie_bone@bathnes.gov.uk