Christian Dior: Designer in focus

Wednesday 12 June 2013 - Sunday 12 January 2014

Christian Dior's brief but supremely influential career began with his iconic 'New Look' in 1947. He reigned supreme in Parisian fashion for ten years until his untimely death in 1957.

This unique exhibition features Paris and London couture, many outfits recently acquired by the Gallery of Costume. Stunning displays include day, cocktail and evening wear, and represent many of Dior's seminal collections.

Display highlights include a ‘New Look’ outfit from Dior’s first celebrated ‘Corolle’ collection (spring/summer 1947) and a 1949 black ribbed silk cocktail dress, commissioned by the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson. Other significant items on display include the first Dior outfit donated to the Gallery of Costume in 1984. The dress, a 1956 black silk cocktail dress, was retailed by the famous Manchester fashion store, Samuels. (Samuels was one of the region’s most important high-end fashion shops until it closed in 1968.)

The show also features a printed lilac silk cocktail dress designed by the young Yves Saint Laurent, who joined the Dior fashion house in 1955 aged only 19, before replacing Christian Dior as Chief Designer after his untimely death in 1957. In addition, the exhibition provides the chance to see a green/silver ballgown on loan from the Harris Museum and Art Gallery and a slate blue cocktail dress, spotted in black, on loan from National Museums on Merseyside.

Images

Christian Dior with model Dorothy Emms, 1957, (c) 2004 TopFoto .....................................................................................................................

Knitted Elegance: Creative Fashion since the 1950s

Thursday 7 February 2013 - Sunday 2 June 2013

A range of avant-garde outfits from the gallery’s collections to illustrate that knitwear can be sophisticated as well as practical, beautiful as well as warm, chic as well as homely. Designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel, Missoni, Moschino, Alice Temperley and Maria Grachvogel will be represented, and because knitwear is frequently at the cutting edge of contemporary fashion, there will be four examples from last season’s collections.

Displayed around the staircase and dining room you can also see work made in response to Knitted Elegance by new community based artists working with artist Sarah Marsh.

Images

BITTE KAI RAND
Hillfiger Denim
New Look Suit, 1945
Sonia Rykiel