Lingerie, Wedding Dresses and Other Garments - 300 Years Old
The Costume Museum of Canada Presents Fashion of Three Centuries
Apr 29, 2009
In September 2008 the Canadian tourism magazine Where selected the Costume Museum of Canada in the historic Exchange District of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as one of the top ten attractions of Canada. The museum owns a collection of more than 30,000 costumes, nightwear, underwear, gowns and wedding dresses of the past 300 years.
This year they are presented to the public in different exhibits over the summer. And this is exactly the reason why Where has awarded this distinction to the Costume Museum of Canada. It is their goal to show the development of fashion, garments and accessories over the last three centuries.
Costume Museum of Canada presents Lingerie, Wedding Dresses and Gowns
In an old warehouse dating back to the year 1890, the museum presents its collections. The brick building and the open arrangement of the interior rooms of the museum provide the perfect background of a historic atmosphere and innovative urban living. Every two months the two museum galleries present a new exhibit over the course of this summer.
Why do they change the exhibits so often? "Museums should not be graveyards", says Stephanie Middagh, curator of the museum. "Society changes, and museums should be a place of lively common experiences and education." Dresses and accessories are subject to continuous change, and the Costume Museum of Canada intends to show these.
Upcoming Exhibits in 2009 Show Fashion of the Past Three Centuries
Anybody who is interested can delve deeply into the fashion world of the last 300 years. The Costume Museum of Canada will show several very interesting exhibitions on this subject over the following months:
- Wacky Weddings (April 7 to June 6, 2009): Unusual wedding dresses from different periods are presented. The strangest dresses are from the '60s and '70s, but there are also wedding gowns from 1890, and they were not all white.
- Women of Style (April 13 to June 6, 2009): Five Women of Winnipeg are introduced. They show their interpretation of fashion.
- The Dirty Thirties (June 8 to September 6, 2009): The fashions of the '30s, with their luxurious fabrics, created a very fashion-conscious society. The female body was presented in a very favourable light.
- Mother Nature Fibers (September 8 to November 1, 2009): With all the modern and artificial fibres dominating today's fashion, an understanding for the simple beginnings of clothing has been lost. This exhibition will concentrate on natural fibres used for the production of clothing and is part of the "International Year of the Organic Fibre".
- Collection Highlights: 50 Years of Collecting and Preserving (November 3 to December 31, 2009): More than 35,000 artefacts in the museum's collections introduce visitors to the beginnings of the covering of human bodies.
- Foundations (November 9, 2009, to January 10, 2010): Nice underwear starts every good outfit. This exhibitions deals with the history of bras, lingerie and underwear.
