The Dressmaker's Art: Highlights of the Bruce Museum's Costume Collection August 21, 2010

The exhibition examines a revolution in textile manufacture through two dozen elegant gowns along with lavishly decorative accessories dating from the Romantic through Victorian and Edwardian eras of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and ending with simpler but sparkling beaded dresses of the 1920s flapper era. The century presents a vast array of silhouettes and styles: from balloon-like "leg of mutton" sleeves to tight, restrictive sleeves; stiff high collars to wide, low necklines; bell-shaped hoop skirts to bustles and narrow "hobble" styles; and floor-brushing hemlines to leg-revealing short dresses.