The school of historical dress

The school of historical dress

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The School encourages new research into historical dress and introduces students to the study of cut, construction, materials, tools and historical context

Operating as usual

26/12/2024

Our exhibition ‘Our Collection by Colour: BLACK Seasonal Stories & Silhouettes’ is open from this weekend on Fridays 4pm to 7.30pm and Saturdays/ Sundays from 1pm to 5pm in our school at 52 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7PP

17/12/2024

Our new exhibition 'BLACK', the fifth in our series 'Our Collection by Colour' opens this Friday and we are finalising the position of every object in the room.

The exhibition will explore different silhouettes and shapes of black garments through figures from seasonal stories and fairy tales such as Alice's Mad Hatter, Cinderella's Prince Charming and Aladdin.

The exhibition will be open at our School from
20th December 2024 to 2nd February 2025.
Friday 4pm to 7.30pm
Saturday/Sunday 1pm to 5pm
52 Lambeth Road, London SE17PP, United Kingdom

FREE entry but donations are very welcome as we are an unfunded educational charity. No booking in advance required.
Dates for virtual live tours will be announced at a later date.

Our bookshop will be open on those days and you can buy all 6 volumes of 'Patterns of Fashion' as well our posters and postcards.

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 04/12/2024

We are currently working hard on our new exhibition 'BLACK', the fifth in our series 'Our Collection by Colour'.

The exhibition will explore different silhouettes and shapes of black garments through figures from seasonal stories and fairy tales such as Alice's Mad Hatter, Cinderella's Prince Charming and Aladdin.

The exhibition will be open at our School from
20th December 2024 to 2nd February 2025.
Friday 4pm to 7.30pm
Saturday/Sunday 1pm to 5pm
52 Lambeth Road, London SE17PP, United Kingdom

FREE entry but donations are very welcome as we are an unfunded educational charity. No booking in advance required.

Dates for virtual live tours will be announced at a later date.

Our bookshop will be open on those days and you can buy all 6 volumes of 'Patterns of Fashion' as well our posters and postcards.

16/10/2024

We are now preparing our workroom for our NOVEMBER COURSES - see details of each course on our webshop
https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

HOW TO RESEARCH HISTORICAL DRESS
1-Day Course - 9th November 2024

FROM DOUBLET & HOSE TO THE 3-PIECE SUIT c.1620-1720
2-Day Course - FRIDAY 15th & SATURDAY 16th November

METAL THREAD EMBROIDERY ON MEN’S & WOMEN’S GARMENTS c.1450-1650
1-Day Course - Friday 22nd November

HEAT-STAMPING & SCORING DESIGNS ON TEXTILES FOR GARMENTS c.1450-1650
1-Day Course - Saturday 23rd November

PINKING, SLASHING & RAZING: DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES ON TEXTILES c.1500-1650
1-Day Course - Sunday 24th November

FROM JACKS TO JUMPS: QUILTING IN GARMENTS c.1400-1800
30th November & 1st December

Book on https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/product-category/courses

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 10/10/2024

We present in our 'RED' exhibition a half-scale wooden religious effigy dressed in a modern interpretation of Salome’s gown as seen in Herod’s Banquet by Pedro García de Benavarre, dated 1470, Museu Nacional d’art de Catalunya .

It is one of the earliest depictions of gowns with their skirts held out with
hoops of bents (verdugos in Spanish) which developed into farthingales
(verdugagos), the under-petticoats worn in the 16th century and 17th centuries
throughout Europe. Six hoops hold out the skirt of the gown, those on Salome's skirt would have been covered with cloth of gold.

The reconstructed gown as made by a student on work placement, Marianne Machielsen. It is in modern polyester velvet, digitally printed with a similar textile design as some on of the original fragments on display in the exhibition, like image 2, a crimson silk velvet cloth of gold tissue, 16th century, Italy, dyestuff for red areas: American cochineal and tannins.

LAST CHANCE to see our 'RED' exhibition at our School in London:
Friday 4pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 5pm.
FREE ENTRY (donations most welcome), no advance booking required.
52 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7PP United Kingdom

You can also buy the catalogue and book an online guided tour with Jenny Tiramani and on Sunday 13th at 6pm (GMT), please visit our webshop to book a ticket: https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/events/

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 09/10/2024

LAST CHANCE to see our 'RED' exhibition at our School in London, closing after this weekend!
Our Collection by Colour: No. 4 RED - RENAISSANCE REDS, RELICS &
REINCARNATIONS

Come and visit Friday 4pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 5pm.
FREE ENTRY (donations most welcome), no advance booking required.
52 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7PP United Kingdom

You can also buy the catalogue and book an online guided tour with Jenny Tiramani and on Sunday 13th at 6pm (GMT), please visit our webshop to book a ticket: https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/events/

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 20/09/2024

Two years ago, we (tailors and seamstresses) cut and constructed all the costumes for Jude Law to play Henry VIII in the film Firebrand (UK release 6/9/2024), directed by Karim Aïnouz. We worked for our friend Michael O’Connor, the wonderful costume designer of the film. We based our patterns on those extant garments and dressed him in all the appropriate layers of clothing.

One of the costumes is currently on display in our RED exhibition at our School in London until October 13th, visit our shop under Events to book virtual tours in October: https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/events/?v=79cba1185463

Cutter and maker Aurélie Noble .costumes.et.broderies
Makers Adrien Chombart de Lauwe , Jordan Colls .colls1 , Alice Gordon , Lou Martinez , Sébastien Passot , Joanna Rice, Jenny Tiramani, Paweł Tomaszewski .

Hats by Josephine Willis & Rachel Frost

Photos © Brouhaha Entertainment Limited

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 03/09/2024

There are still two places available for our one-day course on the Content, Cut, Construction and Context of BIBA Garments c.1968-73’ next Thursday 12th September. We are delighted to be involved in the BIBA Week at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London () for this course when we will explore such aspects as the cut of Bishop/ Balloon sleeves and the iconic ‘L-shaped’ bust darts. Book at https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 31/08/2024

Our latest exhibition RED is now open to the public until 13th October this year at our School in London. Through the use of half- and full-sized reconstructions and images of 15th, 16th and 17th century portraits, the exhibition aims to bring our Renaissance textile collection to life and explore their original lives as items of both secular and religious dress and furnishing.

Opening hours
Friday 4pm to 8pm
Saturday & Sunday 1pm to 5pm
Admission is free but donations are very welcome.
Our books, postcards and posters will be for sale.

12/06/2024

Next Thursday Mark Wallis is coming to our School to present a selection of men’s garments and accessories from his collection which are not often available to see. Come along and hear him talk about them and how they would have been worn. Tickets are available on the School of Historical Dress website now at
https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/events/?v=79cba1185463

02/06/2024

On this free course students will not only hand-stitch the reconstructed garment but unpick the seams of the reconstruction that have extra seam allowance and re-stitch the reconstructed garment to enlarge it. Please note - we would never unpick the seams of the original historical jacket, or any other original historical garment.
We are now delighted to invite applications from those interested in our free course this Summer. There are six places available for those who cannot afford to come to our fee-paid courses. Please write to us at [email protected] giving the reasons for your application.

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 20/05/2024

What a wonderful time our students had on our ‘DARNING:Functional & Fancy’ yesterday at our School with tutor Claire Thornton. Many counted thread embroidered darning samples were worked, original 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century darned garments and darning samplers were studied in the room and also a Mexican huipil with the same kind of designs brocaded.

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 12/05/2024

There are still one or two places available on these five Summer 2024 courses (the other Summer courses are now fully booked). Scroll to see the choices. You can book a place at https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk under ‘COURSES’

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 08/05/2024

Needle weaving is one of the finest techniques used through history for mending holes and tears in garments or other textiles. It is often a form of counted-thread embroidery. Meg Andrews (www.meg-Andrews.com) has kindly lent us this spectacular 1796 darning sampler worked in the Netherlands by Mariakalf Angensmit for students to study on our course.
There are still several places available on our 2-day darning course on the 18th and 19th May.
https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 06/05/2024

Bringing early 17th century Netherlandish portraits to life. Our next dressing event on the 23rd May at our school in London features Sébastien Passot dressing a live model in an interpretation of all the layers of dress and underpinnings like those being worn by women in portraiture, and observed in surviving garments we have researched. There will also be a display of extant textiles and dress from our School collection which relate to the clothing.
Tickets are £20 including refreshments.
Book at https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk under EVENTS

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 26/04/2024

Our Summer Courses begin on the 18th May with DARNING 1600-1900 - FUNCTIONAL & FANCY

Clothing of all status was precious, and was darned and repaired, such as this pair of 1640-60 silk satin stitched stays in the School’s collection, darned both inside and out. The stays are among the garments to be studied for the upcoming darning course 18th/19th May.
The beautiful pair of 17th century stitched stays may not be the first garment that springs to mind when thinking about darning but on close inspection they were carefully darned in pink silk on the outside and linen thread on the inside. The thin baleen has razor sharp edges that cut through the silk satin and we think the baleen strip might have snapped at that point.
The last two images on our 1773 sampler are of the front and back of a darning method for mending knitted silk.
Darning is sometimes visible, at other times invisible. A variety of these techniques will be featured on our course.

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 29/03/2024

Last Tuesday we had the huge honour of welcoming Mark Hutter, master tailor and his apprentice tailor Tim Logue from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to spend time with us at our School in London studying 18th century items in our collection.
In the first image Mark is explaining their interest in a pale blue coat that was thoughtfully altered to shorten it at the waist.
The second image is a detail of the inside of the patterned silk coat (in the first image foreground) where the rotten lining is missing.
Image 3. shows Mark at work in the Williamsburg Tailor’s Shop.
Image 4. Is a view of the Tailor’s Shop.
historian

Photos from The school of historical dress's post 19/02/2024

Our Spring courses have now begun and next weekend we are holding two new one-day classes. The first one, on Saturday 24th is about 19th century men’s neckwear. ‘Ruffles, Pleats and Cuffs’ will cover the following aspects:-
‘These items, worn next to the face and hands of the wearer, have been of great importance for their role of adding the finishing touches to any outfit for centuries. This is particularly important for designer and makers of costume for theatre film and television, as well as people who dress for living history events.
Using examples of neckwear and shirts from the School collection this course will explore the development of styles, the fabrics used, the construction techniques and the art of starching them, together with looking at how they relate to the tailored garments they were worn with.
Students will make samples of several techniques in cotton muslin and linen, both hand-stitched and using hand-sewing machines.
There are still two places on this course at https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

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52 Lambeth Road
London
SE17PP