Tuesday 27 Sep was an exciting day for the History team, as we welcomed descendants of prominent nineteenth-century Wellington entrepreneur William Barnard Rhodes and accepted two remarkable items into our collection. Rhodes’ great, great, great grandson Rupert Ryle-Hodges travelled from England to present to Te Papa a silk brocade weddingRead more
Out of all of the Royal memorabilia circulating in the world my favourite items tend to be home made. ‘Fanmade’ objects always resonate with me more than commercially produced souvenirs –infused as they often are with love and obsession. In 2012 the Merrick Girls gifted Te Papa a cushion, intensely embroidered byRead more
A year ago, we launched the Te Papa Wedding Photo Gallery. We did so in conjunction with the news that the V&A’s sumptuous exhibition of 200 years of wedding fashion was coming to our shores. Both announcements were timed to coincide with the much-anticipated marriage of Prince William to CatherineRead more
This week marks the conclusion of Wedding Dress of the Week, as Unveiled: 200 years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London finishes at Te Papa on Sunday. My final wedding dress pick is one of the most admired dresses not actually in the exhibition – that is exceptRead more
During Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London there has been much gasping and musing over the number of teeny tiny waists on display, and those elegant instruments of torture, corsets. I, however, have been captivated by sleeves – dropped, ruched, puffed and frilled.Read more
In conjunction with the exhibition Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria & Albert Museum, Dr Gabrielle Fortune will present an illustrated lecture on how wartime austerity impacted on wedding fashion at Te Papa this Sunday at 2pm. Specifically, she will be looking at the wedding dresses of womenRead more
With the mornings crispy and the evenings increasingly darker, winter is distinctly on it way. This week’s wedding gown from Te Papa’s collection is perfect for the winter bride. This stunning medieval-style gown was designed by Italian high fashion house Carosa, and was worn by New Zealand’s ‘Queen of Wool’, Mary-Annette Burgess, for her marriage to Donald HayRead more
Last Friday evening I found myself sitting at the judges table at the ZM Bride of the Century competition, as 19 gorgeous brides vied for a second honeymoon courtesy of Cook Island Tourism. In keeping with the theme of the competition, I have chosen a 21st century wedding gown this week. It is aRead more
This week’s wedding dress from Te Papa’s collection is not an extravagant affair, but an exercise in simplicity. It is a homemade wedding dress made by Elizabeth Clark, the eldest daughter of a mason from Adelaide. Elizabeth Clark married William Millar in Melbourne, Australia on the 25 March 1872. News of their marriageRead more
Following a Te Papa Art After Dark session on the little details that matter (hats, shoes, jewellery, fabric and a well dressed man), I am on the couch awaiting my Thursday night telly treat – Project Runway. This week the battling designers are being asked to ‘join forces with art students to create artworkRead more
This week I am deviating from my own rules, as this Friday’s Wedding Dress is from neither the V&A’s or Te Papa’s collection. It is from Vinka Lucas’ Wedding Empire! The marvellous Vinka Lucas is the topic of Lucy Hammond’s Unveiled lecture on Sunday 18 March at 11am. Vinka, pictured below,Read more
This week, as I walked around Unveiled with Wellington fashion designer Alexandra Owen who was prepping for her Thursday floor talk, she stopped in her tracks in front of this dress. The dress was worn by Monica Maurice for her wedding to Canadian doctor, Arthur Jackson (1904-1985) in South Yorkshire in 1938. It isRead more
This lilac satin dress from Te Papa’s collection was worn by Rosa Criscillo at her wedding to Antonino Moleta in Wellington on 5 May 1909. It is a dress that marked not only Rosa’s transition from a single woman to a wife, but heralded the beginning of a new life on the other side of theRead more
Zandra Rhodes is the first fashion designer I became aware of as a child. I think I must have been 10 or 12 when I saw a picture of her in a magazine. I was captivated by her pink hair. I had never imagined that grown-ups could look like her. Certainly none of the mums inRead more
While in the mid-twentieth century many young women continued to pursue the dream of a white wedding, complete with a full-skirted Cinderella gown, Dawn ‘Velma’ Harris of Auckland was not amongst them. When she married James Turner on 27 May in 1961, she walked down the aisle of St AndrewsRead more
