Claire Regnault: Dressed
We were incredibly lucky to have the extraordinary Claire Regnault come to speak to us in July. She is the author of ‘Dressed’ which explores fashionable dress in Aotearoa and has won a New Zealand Book Award!
Her talk was fascinating, detailing the inner lives, ambition and dress of some larger than life women. She also talked about the affects that the pursuit of fashion had on the larger environment, economy and protections on species that benefit us today.
It’s impossible to choose just 1-2 highlights from Claire’s talk. From Bethea -wife of Dr. Featherston who has a street named after him- who subsidied the family with her sewing to Eliza Wright (Mrs. Henry) who has dresses displayed in Te Papa and Jane Yandel who was a taxidermist and milliner! Claire also regaled us with stories of Mary Taylor who disn’t want to marry so started her own successful business, and who believed you could do anything when not indoctrinated to a particular fashion. She was particular taken by a Māori man who bought a green cape for himself and looked dashing despite it being labelled as a woman’s cape. We can’t forget the sisters behind the Milnes Choyce department store either!
We learnt how many Kiwi skins were being sent off shore (2000 annually from just one person!), and how emperor penguin muffs made their appearance in international fashion shows, and stories of Huia skins being harvested but rotting because they couldn’t be processed enough. At this time there was starting to be a shift from protecting game species only to caring about other species too. This started a shift to Ostrich feathers and farms, and other more sustainable practices.
You may be able to tell how we listened with baited breath on the edge of our seats, and when her talk ended we were left in deep thought and wonder. Thank you for the wonderful experience Claire! Time flew by!
We also had a beautiful show and tell with lots of refuge quilts
