During I D Fashion week the Year 12 / 13 Textiles Technology class were able to include two excursions into their studies. 

The first was to the Public Library where there is an annual display of the wide range of fashion books and magazines which are in the Library collection. Many of the books are available on the shelves but it helpful to see them all in one place. There is also a huge range of American, English and French Vogues which are kept in the basement. This provided inspiration from many eras, designers and interesting and unusual sources for students to incorporate into their current assessment standard. On the way to the library we were able to call into the Mint Gallery to visit the Desi Liversage exhibition - Anti Fashion Manifesto - raising awareness of the issues "Fashion" creates in society.

After a brief walk down the high fashion streets of Dunedin we arrived at the Otago Museum for a special visit to their Best Dressed Exhibition. Once we were signed in we were taken to the basement of the Otago Museum on a behind-the-scenes tour of the textile collection . We were shown how they store and care for their fashion garments and were shown many pieces that aren't normally on display. These included a 'flapper dress' from the 1920's which is so heavily beaded that it can only be lain flat, and a hand sewn, boned, silk bodice which required the white gloved hands of both the museum staff to turn over so we could see the intricate boning and hand stitching on the inside. 

In the photograph students are shown a display of 1960's fashion accessories. Thank you to the Otago Museum staff for making this visit possible. It was amazing to see the huge collection of our fashion history and how it is required to be handled and stored so it will be kept for future generations.

What are we wearing today that they will they be keeping from 2016?