We start the New Year going back in time with a talk on 'Reconstructing Costumes from History'. Dressed in a reconstructed Tudor sack dress and wig, Jenny Unsworth introduced us to her hobby of recreating historical garments. Not surprisingly very few original dresses exist as most were altered and recycled, as fabric was so expensive. Jenny described how fashion through the ages has influenced and been influenced by so many outside events. The discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, for example, started the fashion for all things Ancient Greek and Roman, thus the simple shift dress became very fashionable. It was made of cotton not the favoured silks and satins of the Tudors but the industrial revolution kick started the desire for cotton. Fortunately, Janet Arnold has extensively researched old clothing and taken measurements and created block patterns which are a great help to the modern-day conservers.
Jenny’s 2 hard working models continued to show us
various fashions through the ages whilst Jenny described the undergarments and influences
which inspired them. As ever it was a very lively, fascinating and informative
talk.
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