Worn to be Wild

Yesterday I went up to Henley to see the Exhibition called Worn to be Wild. A friend told me about it near the end of November, but I have been so busy I didn't get up there. and it finishes today.

It was SO cool. Kate Plumtree has made costumes from different historical periods, using techniques and silouhette of the period, but with a twist. She assigned different animals or birds to each costume. So that you have a late Victorian with overtones of a fox, or Modern period hedgehog, and so on. It is fascinating. There were swatch samples you could handle to see how the fabric felt. Also there were photo albums with photos of the different costumes at different stages of construction.

You weren't meant to take photos, but I bought most of the postcards. The Tudor Badger postcard was sold out. Here are a few of them. Spot the fox getting into the rubbish bins? and the Kingfisher?

When I came home I looked up her website. She has worked as a Costume Maker for opera and West End shows. The photos on the far right of the page on this link are of the exhibit at Henley. I found out the exhibition will also be on in other places around the UK. If you get a chance to go to it when it is near you, make a point of doing so!

This is definitely the sort of thing I would love to do. But somehow you would need a sponsor to afford the materials and you would really need to do as she has done and arrange places for them to be seen.