Parure de Plumes
Judith Clark Costume Gallery
17 December 1998 - 7 February 1999

The Peacock Dress dates from the late 1850's and belonged to a young aristocratic woman in Provence. The simple and elegant silhouette: a tight-sleeved chemise and skirt - supported by a large crinoline - is made from delicate white muslin and decorated with a feathered print. Progress in synthetic dyes during this period led to the creation of wonderful greens, violets, blues and browns here inspired by the infinite hues of a peacock's tail that have remained intact throughout the years. The printed textile was manufactured in Mulhouse, in the Alsace region of France, by Dollfus Mieg and Co (Archive 1856).

The dress has been kindly loaned to the gallery by Mme Magali Pascal of The Centre de Recherche du Costume (CRC) in Arles, France.

The exhibition pays homage to James McNeill Whistler who promoted oriental taste, and who made the peacock motif popular through his famous interior The Peacock Room, housing Frances Leyland's collection of Chinese porcelain (Kanxi era (1662-1722)). A fantasy of the Orient embedded in European taste, the room has often been thought to be the precursor of Art Nouveau.

The gallery looks at the dress with contemporary eyes, acknowledging the current popularity of Orientalism in dress and its long history, inspired by fin de siècle exoticism and the celebration of Aubrey Beardsley's centenary. The exhibition is styled by contemporary designers: Dai Rees' head-dress traces the arabesque lines of ragged feathers, curled into a wig to complete the late Victorian silhouette. A peacock eye becomes a DIY hat by Rees in Visionaire (26 Fantasy Issue) currently on sale in the gallery.

Katherine Clark's Cherry Blossom Collection of jewellery is taken from Kanxi porcelain, or Beardsley's drawings, where peacock feathers become at once chrysanthemum petals and intersecting crescent moons.

SEMINARS were held at the gallery exploring some of the themes raised by this exhibition:

Christopher Breward
'Designing Decadence: Perspectives on Fashion at the Fin de Siècle'
14 January 7pm
Christopher Breward is a lecturer in postgraduate Design History at the Royal College of Art. Author of The Culture of Fashion, he is currently researching masculinity and consumption in the nineteenth century.

Dai Rees
21 January 7pm
Dai Rees is an avant-garde Milliner based in London.