Tayloria mosses belong to the wonderfully named Splachnaceae family, and grow on dung and carcasses! Such substrates are unusual for mosses, and Tayloria has several adaptations for its specialist life-style. Mosses reproduce by spores, which in most cases are dispersed by the wind, and may or may not land inRead more
It’s only about three years I have been living in New Zealand and there is still plenty to learn about the country. But one thing I already know for sure, it’s that February is the best month in the year to enjoy good sun, low winds and warm weather. ItRead more
The Poor Knights Islands, northeast of Whangarei, are perhaps best known as a world-class diving location, but the life on land is no less astonishing and it really comes alive at night. In December 2011, I assisted seabird expert Graeme Taylor with his work on the migration of Buller’s Shearwaters. Read more
Many apologies for the lateness of this post. It was programmed to be published last Friday as I was fittingly in Dunedin for a wedding, but autopublish failed me! This week’s wedding dress provides the inspiration for Maureen Montgomery’s forthcoming Te Papa lecture on The World of Charles Frederick Worth –Read more
Te Papa researchers are studying wildlife populations in the field to find out about their diversity and behaviours, distribution and threats, with a programme of research on the shearwaters found nesting in New Zealand. We were privileged to visit Titi Island in the outer Pelorus Sound (Marlborough) for our summer field programme.Read more
One hundred and eleven years ago, Queen Victoria dies aged 81 (22 January 1901). A profound sense of grief followed in the wake of the Queen’s death. This black-edged silk portrait was issued by a woman’s magazine so that readers had their own, personal memorial of the late monarch. Victoria’s deathRead more
Happy New year all! I hope you all had a good holiday break and had your cameras out snapping away. Maybe your images will one day be part of the Museum collection……you never know. I’ve been doing a lot of image research lately around significant events, where an imageRead more
One of my most favourite fashion terms is passementerie. Its a French term that looks and sounds good, and which economically describes a luxurious array of frivolities used to adorn dress and interiors, including pom poms, bobbles, braid, ribbon, fringing, buttons, tassels and gimp. The English equivalent is the equally delightful ‘haberdashery’. Read more
Recently, I published with my colleagues from Te Papa Fish Team and Massey University some interesting findings about a fantastic group of species: hagfishes. Those primitive deep-sea fishes repulse any predator attack using their slime. I present examples of how hagfish stop the attack from shark several times their sizes.Read more
This week’s ‘wedding dress of the week’ is an homage to classicism. Designed by Ian & Marcel this dress and coat is one of the most subtle yet rewarding ensembles included in Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Ian & Marcel was founded in 1979 by twoRead more
This week’s wedding dress is a recent acquisition – one which caused much excitment amongst Te Papa’s History team when it arrived. Wholly romantic in design, this dress is made from a Second World War silk parachute. It was made for Carol Gifford by members of her family, for her marriage toRead more
2011 was a grim year for New Zealand seabirds. They suffered the triple-whammy of nuclear-fallout from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant affecting the North Pacific non-breeding grounds of at least four species, a severe winter storm that killed up to half a million prions, then the Rena oil spillRead more
Wedding dress by Charles James for Baba Beaton, 1934 The Parisian fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet (1876 – 1975) is credited with having invented the bias cut. She commented: ‘Maybe because everyone else made dresses that flowed in the same direction, I saw that if I turned the fabric on an angle… it gained elasticity’.Read more
A Christmas Wedding This silk chiffon and satin dress was worn by Lucy Eleanor (Lulu) Cracroft of Hataitai when she wed James Meade Ferguson at St Mark’s Church in Wellington just after Christmas on 29 December, 1914. While the dress is machine sewn, it features a significant amount of hand detailing and finishing,Read more
Perhaps a little unwisely, I have decided to commit to a weekly blog post in conjunction with our current exhibition Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Dress from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Wedding Gown of the Week will include gowns from the Unveiled and Te Papa’s own collection – the exhibition has spurredRead more
