Dress: an exhibition about clothes and why we wear them

Housley, Georgina, Brownbridge, Kathryn and McCarthy, Julie (2018) Dress: an exhibition about clothes and why we wear them. The Horsfall, 22 March 2018 - 24 March 2018.

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Abstract

In 1887, the Ancoats Art Museum put their Model Dress on display to the public. Made from Silk and placed in a glass cabinet alongside example fabrics by William Morris, it was designed to inspire working women to wear more functional and beautiful clothing and to influence their behaviour and moral character. With this in mind, the museum even offered the dress pattern for sale for tuppence. 18 years later in 1905. a group of women from the Fawcett Debating Society challenged the committee and the design of the dress. Their polite but firm feedback to the committee was summarised in one word: the dress was "inconvenient". This exhibition documents this story and explore what we wear and why we wear it. A reimagining of the original dress is disrupted by creative responses to the story by young women from Wythenshawe. The exhibition also features portraits of the participants and historical research on the Model Dress and its makers.