Waist deep in past
A new exhibition at Calderdale’s Bankfield Museum showcases fashion makers from across the country who design and create clothing based on historical dress. Catherine Scott reports
FROM the costumes for the BBC’s Gentleman Jack to historically accurate reproductions of military uniforms, all have been inspired by actual period pieces in the archives of Bankfield Museum in Halifax. Now a new exhibition explores the process of how you go from a museum garment to producing an item of historically inspired dress that is ready to wear.
Inspired: The Art of Making Historical Fashion sees the new pieces displayed alongside costumes and textiles from the museum’s collection with films screened where visitors can see the makers at work and learn more about what inspires them.
Museums manager Richard Macfarlane explains the idea behind the exhibition. “We wanted to show the different types of people who used the historical collections we have here – from those creating costumes for film and television to the makers who are inspired by historical fashion to make new garments and those who want to replicate them as close as possible.”
Among the exhibits are the works of costume designer Tom Pye, who created the costumes for Gentleman Jack. He was inspired by costumes of the 1830s held in the Calderdale archives but added his own touches to create the distinctive outfits worn by Suranne Jones, who played Anne Lister in the Sally Wainwright series. Pye researched costumes of the period, while also bearing in mind that the real Anne, as she tells us in her diaries, did wear skirts, petticoats and corsets. “It came from the diary a lot of it, but then I exaggerated it,” he says. “I don’t think the real Anne Lister looked quite like that. It’s an exaggeration, and I wanted her to look cool. I wanted gay women to have an icon and also appeal to a contemporary audience. It’s so rare that we see that kind of character on TV.
“The relationship with Bankfield has been lovely, and key to the research and development of the whole project. They have amazing archives of original clothing, so I looked at all their 1830s clothes for construction and fabric ideas.” Pye and his team create the costumes in much the same way that they would have been made in the 1830s.
Corset maker Jennifer Garside, of WytePhantom, has two of her garments on display in the exhibition and says her work is inspired by the historical costumes in museum archives. “My work is very much inspired by the Victorian fashions in museums like Bankfield, rather than an actual recreation, like some of the makers in this exhibition,” she says.
“After the Second World War, corsets disappeared and so did the art of making them. You can only tell so much from a photograph – you really have to see and feel the original corsets.
“People think they were really rigid and uncomfortable but that was not the case at all. People worked wearing them and so they are far more soft and flexible than people imagine.”
Garside often uses recycled fabrics as in her white angel corset that is on display at Bankfield. The Burton-based designer, who is a great supporter of museums and was pleased
‘People think corsets were really rigid and uncomfortable but that was not the case at all. People worked wearing them.'
be asked to exhibit her work, was excited about one particular original corset that is on display alongside her own work.
“There is a red corset that I really got quite giddy about. It was bit grubby on the inside and you can actually see how it was laced. There is a a lot of argument about how corsets were laced and it was fascinating to see.”
Rob Cooper, from Halifax, has six of his men’s Regency costumes in the exhibition. He has had a long-standing relationship with Bankfield.
“I was at school when I first went to the museum and became fascinated with history and what it can teach us,” says Cooper. “I realised quite early on that it wasn’t enough to just look at these items in a case – you needed to touch and feel them to get a real understanding of the period and how they were worn.”
It is the Regency period in particular that fascinated him and when he struggled to get hold of costumes, he decided to make his own. “This is not fancy dress,” says Cooper. “I try to reproduce the costumes as close to the real thing as I can.”
Having left school at 16 with no qualifications, he worked as a technician with the police until he realised in his 40s that it wasn’t the career for him. As a mature student, he enrolled on a Theatre and Costume Design degree course at Leeds University where he realised that he was dyslexic and learnt differently from most people.
“Why the Regency Period? Because it is smart, precise and looks cool. It also has subtlety and simplicity is very difficult to achieve,” he says. Although Cooper is a in the process of making costumes for his family for the Regency Summer Ball, which is held at Bankfield he says it remains a hobby due to the expense.
Clarissa Quartermaine, Creative Director of 20th Century Clothiers Ltd has made a commerical business out of her love of vintage fashion and now employs 14 people at her Elland factory which supplies customer across the world. “I don’t think people realise just what museums like Bankfield have in their archives and what a resource they can be for people like me who recreate 20th century fashion – in particular the 1920s – 1940s for a modern customer.”
Inspired: The Art of Making Historical Fashion runs until December 21. It is part of Calderdale’s Year of Culture 2024 celebrations and an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project with the London College of Fashion called Exhibiting Fashion: exhibition-making and curation as a catalyst for advancing innovative museum practices.