The Museum of Edinburgh now has a Costume Gallery tucked away in the back of the building showing off items from the city’s large collection of clothing and accessories.
The gallery space currently has a display of four World War 1 and World War 2 dresses and a few items of children’s clothing and accessories, with objects which have never been seen by the public before.
Visitors will be able to find out how the two World Wars affected the way people dressed, and hear the costumes brought to life in audio stories accessible by scanning a QR code on a smartphone. Each of the recordings is spoken as though the dress itself (or its owner) is speaking to you.
Here is one of the audio files you can access when you visit the Museum :
A selection of replica wartime clothing for dressing up will allow visitors to be a pilot, an evacuee or a smart lady of the New Town.
Museums Galleries Edinburgh has over 8,000 pieces of costume spanning the 18th to 21st centuries, but has had no space to showcase pieces from this collection until now. While small, the new costume gallery will rotate its displays and will in the future feature pieces of 18th century costume, working clothing and Victorian style.
The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to Lucie Whitmore an intern with the Museum of Edinburgh about the display :
New wartime fashion exhibition at Museum of Edinburgh from Phyllis Stephen on Vimeo.
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