On show... secret granny who was
EMILY Tinne certainly had a passion for fashion.
Throughout the early 1900s, the well-to-do doctor’s wife was so enthusiastic about clothes that she bought over 700 dresses, not to mention shoes, hats and other accessories.
Even Emily’s family had no idea about her passion. They only discovered her vast wardrobe as they cleared out her house in Liverpool after she died. Some of the clothes had been hidden in tea chests, others still bore the sale tag.
Granddaughter Emily Fabricius said: ‘We were astounded– it seemed out of character to the granny that we knew. She used to wear the same garments most of the time. She didn’t seem to have a great array of clothes.”
Insight
Today the stunning outfits – dating from 1910 to 1939 – provide an extraordinary insight into the styles of a bygone age.
More than 70 of them are on display at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery. They include a wool bathing suit worn by Emily during her honeymoon.
Pauline Rushton, of National Museums Liverpool, said the collection offered “a wonderful snapshot of life in a middleclass family between the wars”.
She added: “Emily’s love of shopping was extraordinary.”
Emily married Dr Philip Frederic Tinne in 1910 and had six children. From the 1940s until her death in 1966 she curtailed her spending.