Local History

The first dress was made in the early years of the 20th century for a well known local family.

Gillian Lenfestey with the more fragile dress

While perhaps not at the very cutting edge of current fashion it is nonetheless an extremely expensive and well made garment. It is also a fairly rare survival since the delicate material it is made from tends to deteriorate quite quickly.

Such a dress would have been made by a team of seamstresses each working on a separate element and represents many weeks of painstaking work by a number of people.

It could have been worn with a veil, a headdress of orange blossom or perhaps a small hat, none of which have survived.

Detail from Olivia De Havilland's dress

The second dress is a Dior party frock made for Olivia De Havilland in the 1960s. She wore it to an unknown awards ceremony.

It is a striking combination of orange and pink, net, toile and silk. The dress is "built" rather than fitted in the sense that it is made to do away with any need to wear foundation garments under it.

The bodice is boned and the suspenders are built in to the waist. It has a bolero jacket and a striking costume jewellery brooch.