Publications | Down Survey | 1998 Issue Contents

The story of a dress
M Lesley Simpson

The museum's costume collection reflects not just changes in fashion, but social conditions. Like most museums, our collection contains more women's than men's clothes, and more `best' dresses than casual or working clothes. This is because `ordinary' clothes are more likely to wear out and be thrown away. Among the many beautiful and interesting items, some stand out because we know more about the people who wore them, or they are particularly evocative of the time.

Left, Nellie Gunn wearing the dress circa 1912. Right, Judith Allen modelling the altered dress in 1998.

An example of such a dress is one given to us by Mrs Cynthia and Mr Gerald Douglas of Bryansford, County Down. It is made from white linen with broderie anglaise trimming. It belonged to Nellie Gunn, who was a cousin of Mr Douglas' father. Nellie first wore it for her 21 st birthday in 1911. Nellie was born in Dublin in 1890, daughter of Ellen and Charles Brewster. Her family later moved to
Bryansford, where they lived in Wylie ess, modelling the altered dress in 1998. Cottage. After Nellie's marriage to Samuel Gunn, she and her husband moved to Seacote, Downs Road, Newcastle. Nellie died in 1986.

The dress as it now appears in our collection is clearly the same dress but has been remodelled ¹. The collar and sleeves have been removed, the waistline raised and the hemline shortened. This kind of alteration was quite common until relatively recently and reflects the need to update styles without spending too much money.

The style of this dress suggests that the alteration took place in the 1920s, when fashions changed dramatically.

Lesley Simpson is the museum's Keeper of Collections

References

1.	Down County Museum 1994-509.