Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
A deep-dive into themes, concepts and stories of fashionable women’s dress in Aotearoa New Zealand from 1840 to the early 1900s.
The Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) began collecting examples of colonial women’s dress in the 1950s, following a series of centennial commemorations. At the time of acquisition very little information was recorded about either the garments or the women who had worn or made them. This project aims to improve the documentation of Te Papa’s 19th century dress collection and the people associated with it, in order to interpret and contextualise the collection through a range of media. The latter includes a fully illustrated book exploring the creation, consumption, and spectacle of fashionable women’s dress in Aotearoa New Zealand from 1840 to the early 1900s.
Primary outputs: Dressed: Fashionable dress in Aotearoa New Zealand 1840 to 1910, Te Papa Press publication (May 2021), collection documentation, Feathermania exhibition (2021)
Woman's boots, circa 1890, maker unknown. Gift of Mrs P Cousins, 1965. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (PC001129)
From the 1850s to the 1910s, feathers were the height of fashion – worn by royalty, military men, debutantes and fashionable women alike. Opening soon: 26 Jun 2021 to late April 2022.
Closed
5 Jul 2021 – 6 Jun 2022
Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga
When crinolines, bustles and ostrich feathers were the height of colonial fashion – from ball gowns and riding habits to tea gowns and dresses worn for presentation to Queen Victoria.
Entrepreneurial women and wool in post-war New Zealand clothing industry.
