Exhibition – 200 Years of Australian Wool in Fashion
The public has until 22 August 2007 to see a wonderful snapshot of Australian wool in fashion in the commemorative exhibition at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum
(www.powerhousemuseum.com).
This historic exhibition has been specially created to mark 200 years of Australian wool in fashion and was opened on 25 July. It includes modern, vintage and historical fashion design pieces from major Australian and international designers, celebrating wool and its extraordinary role in the history of modern fashion.
Image: Comme de Garçons wool rib-knit dress, autumn-winter 2002-03.
Historical material in the exhibition includes some of the earliest fleeces from the Australian Merino flock (see page 16) and other outstanding material from the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Australia’s largest museum of science, technology, design and decorative arts.
The exhibition coincides with Sydney Design Week, one of Australia’s premier design festivals. Produced annually by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Design Week showcases home-grown and international talent across the breadth of design. Speakers from the Australian wool and fashion industries will give presentations throughout the festival at the Powerhouse Museum:
- Wednesday 25 July, 12.30–1.30pm – ‘Fashion from fleece’ – curator Jane de Teliga will take you behind the scenes of the exhibition;
- Wednesday 8 August, 12.30–1.30pm – ‘Romancing wool’ – celebrated fashion designer Akira Isogawa in conversation with curator Glynis Jones; and
- Saturday 11 August, 2.00–3.30pm – ‘Fashion Plate High Tea’ – a fashion-themed high tea with fashion designer Jayson Brunsdon (bookings $40).
The core of the exhibition comprises fabulous fashion pieces: early historical, vintage and modern pieces by leading international and Australian designers. The vintage selection includes names such as Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Balenciaga, Giorgio Armani and Jenny Kee. The contemporary designers include Akira Isogawa, Josh Goot, Easton Pearson, Jayson Brunsdon, Proenza Schouler and Martin Grant.
Images from Powerhouse museum:
- Top-left: Model Penny Pardey, wearing a Pierre Cardin wool dress, photographed by Henry Talbot in Paris, 1967.
- Top-right: Model Gill Hamilton photographed by Henry Talbot for the Australian Wool Board in Papua New Guinea, c. 1968.
- Bottom-left: Fashion photograph by Henry Talbot for Simplicity Patterns, taken at Werribee Station, Victoria, and published in Vanity Fair, August 1968.
- Bottom-right: Model Sarah Grant photographed by David Mist for Flair magazine, 1973.
Return to Beyond the Bale Issue 29 index page.