'Power Dressing'

February 2025 - November 2026

Power Dressing: 1770-1990

Fashion and textiles have long been signifiers of power and wealth. Throughout the ages, the colour and fabric of garments communicated the status of the wearer.
Certain fabrics and colours have even been banned for lower classes. The style of a garment can enable the wearer to create a statement and take up space. The production of textiles has the power to create fortunes and destabilise entire economies.

This exhibition is split into two rooms. The Powerful Silhouette focuses on how emphasis on shoulders in women's wear can create a commanding figure, from the shoulder pads of the 1980s to Romantic leg-of-mutton sleeves of the 1820s.

Power & Textiles examines the cultural and economic significance of certain fabrics through time, from sumptuary laws and velvet to paisley shawls and The British Empire.
See handout for more information.