Fashion show brings Manitoba history to life

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This article was published 16/08/2021 (1508 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Frilly frocks and hats festooned with feathers and ribbons were all the rage at a garden fashion show to showcase Manitoba’s 150-year history.

The Costume Museum of Canada hosted Monday’s event, which featured 35 replica costumes, at Dalnavert Museum at 61 Carlton St., the Victoria-era house once owned by Hugh John Macdonald, Manitoba’s premier for 10 months in 1900.

Margaret Mills, who was one of the people who chose the outfits, said it breathes new life into history when museum exhibits are alive and moving.

“A picture brought to life in the flesh is so much more understandable than just a flat, one-dimensional picture.”

Although photos depict what life looked like in Manitoba’s early days, the fashion show gave viewers an up-close look.

“They see clothing in the flesh, where before they only saw pictures, and we know what that’s like,” Mills said.

The clothing chosen for the show featured the style of dress from the time of Canada’s Confederation, and moved all the way to the last decades of the 20th century, an evolving showcase of how Manitobans lived in each period and the role that clothing represented in their lives.

“You don’t get any other way to see what it was like for people to live in that era but by the way they looked,” Mills said.

Mills also hoped to draw attention to the fact that even though the museum doesn’t have its own building, “we exist in the fundraisers, in the exhibits, the donations that we receive.”

The museum depends on donations and fundraisers, and the annual fashion review is its biggest fundraiser.

The show was the first by the museum in 18 months due to the pandemic. Mills emphasized that not only was this a rare chance to both educate and entertain guests, but it was also a celebration of being able to join together again to celebrate Canadian fashion, culture and history.

“We know how difficult it was last year with COVID, and we weren’t able to do a proper celebration of Manitoba 150, so this was our take,” she said.

“It was in a small way, but it’s still an important way.”

gillian.brown@freepress.mb.ca