This past weekend I braved the heat (have I mentioned I can't wait for autumn to arrive?) and drove out to Lower Fort Garry National Historical Site. They were commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the First World War and the 75th of the Second World War with various activities and displays at the historical site.
Did I mention how hot is was this weekend? It was crazy hot and yes, I left the comfort of the great air-conditioned indoors to sit in the scorching heat. The Costume Museum of Canada was presenting a fashion show outlining how political and global issues affected how people lived, played and worked through the clothes they wore. The timeline of the clothing shown spanned from the early nineteen hundreds into the nineteen fifties.
The show, stories and information made up for sitting in the hot sun. Many of the costumes were replicas but there were also some original garments. And they were all so stunning in their craftsmanship.
This was one of the outfits that opened the show, from the early twentieth century. I may be mistaken but I do believe this was a 1919 outfit.
The hats and footwear were equally exquisite as the clothing.
It felt as if these could have been costumes from the set of Dowton Abbey. 
I quite enjoyed hearing tales of how lace trimming were made by hand, treasured and re-used.
This is a tennis outfit--how stylish and horribly unpracticable! 
The attention to detail! 
And the stories and memories woven into these garments. This Parisian ensemble came to a young Prairie woman when a solider, her father, returned from the First World War.
It is was a beautiful show on so many levels.
Happy Sewing!
I never knew there was a costume museum in Canada!
ReplyDeleteAnd who would have thought that it would be found in the prairies! Folks were quite stylish back-in-the-day.
DeleteWow, those are just lovely. You are so right they remind me of the garments worn on Downton Abbey.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It was incredible to see them so close up, the navy blue dress (second last picture) was my absolute favourite just how it was constructed and how the fabric moved when the model walked. I wish my pictures could capture that.
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