350 years of clothes go on display
THE history of children’s clothing is told in a new exhibition in the city.
A collection of baby clothes and shoes that tells the story of 350 years of children’s clothing went on display at Leicester’s New Walk Museum last Saturday.
Dressing for Childhood features more than 100 items of clothing, with the earliest items on display dating from the late 17th century.
A knitted baby’s jacket and a baby’s christening set – both from the 1690s – will be on show, as well as a dress worn by Prince Octavius, son of King George III. The dress, from about 1782, is made from a woven cream silk brocade and features a zigzag pattern of silver metallic thread.
In contrast, the most recent item on display is a child’s Kate Greenaway dress that was bought in Marshall & Snelgrove in Leicester in the 1950s.
Leicester City Council collections officer Fiona Graham said: “Our children’s clothing collection is rarely seen in public because textiles are so vulnerable to light exposure and can easily be damaged by poor handling and insect attack. This exhibition is therefore a great opportunity to see the clothes and shoes that children were wearing from the late 17th to the mid-20th century, and to learn how children’s clothing has developed over the past 350 years.”
Dressing for Childhood runs until February 26. It is the first in a series of exhibitions called Out of the Stores that will showcase fascinating items in the city council’s stores and which are rarely on display.
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