Vintage fashion show brings history to life
The Western Development Museum (WDM) was the venue for a recent fashion show highlighting a collection of vintage clothes made in Canada through the decades. Surrounded by modes of transportation from years gone by, a collection of exclusively Canadian garments, fittingly colour coordinated in red and white were paraded down the runway. Following the show was a strawberry social, with refreshments and strawberry shortcake provided by Mulberry Estates.
Karla Rasmussen, the Education and Public Programs Coordinator at the WDM, said of the event, “Having a fashion show really helps to bring different parts of history to life. A lot of our displays in the museum are static and you can’t really interact with them. This way, history jumps off the shelves and people can really get up close and relive those eras.” The clothing on display was a wide assortment of wedding dresses, formal wear, sportswear, casual wear, and workwear from various decades in Canadian history. The clothes were modelled by volunteers of all ages. The collection was originally prepared for the Canada 150 celebrations at the WDM in Saskatoon last year. The individual pieces had been donated over the past several years and stored at the curatorial centre in Saskatoon before being assembled into a fashion show celebrating clothes designed and made in Canada. Rasmussen wants to continue celebrating Canadian fashion in this way. “We have so many things tucked away in our curatorial centre. I would love to be able to move forward and create more fashion shows because this a great chance to bring them out of storage and show them off.”
Rasmussen pointed out that although many in the audience would be familiar with the vintage styles, this would probably be a new experience for someone of a younger generation. “Seeing clothing from past eras highlights the different materials that were used back then. Things tended to be heavier and were made of fabrics such as polyester. So, this is a good opportunity to see just how far we’ve come with fashion and how much it has evolved.” Several of the garments were storied items. One red cocktail dress modelled for the audience was made for the proud owner’s 25th wedding anniversary. Rasmussen is convinced that all clothing tells a story. “Clothing is very personal; it represents who we are. Seeing the vintage clothes out in a parade like this really encapsulates all those different lives and lets us ask the questions - who wore this and what were they like?”