Welcome to the Costume & Textile Association for Norfolk Museums

…and so we move on from shoes, dipping our toes into ecclesiastical fashions – from historic treasures to contemporary new commissions. Such is the diversity and extremes of the C&TA’s interests, who can say what makes up the fabric of our lives?

The Kobe Fashion Museum in Japan is housed in the relentlessly modern, terminal loop of a shopping mall on the artificial Rokko Island. (You really cannot make this stuff up!) The guide book listing: “The museum’s collection of mostly foreign fashion does not quite live up to the dramatic building in which it is housed but it’s worth a look if you are interested in fashion”, hardly flags it up.

Photo Courtesy of Norwich Museums
Hanging centre stage along side a sari length was a Towler and Campin Norwich shawl in a display celebrating the colour red. Mommo, the curator, translated the label and bowed ever lower when I said I too was from Norwich. He promised to send me photos, which he has, and I hope to find out more about the shawl’s provenance. Huge impact with ripples, so far from home.

Please share your own costume and textile serendipity: references, ephemera and experiences, large or small, resolved or requiring further research or debate. Remember this is your Newsletter/Web site and we will all benefit from a two way dialogue. Don’t forget the opportunity to “Open the Box” as detailed in the last newsletter, Kate and I still need help and look forward to hearing from you!
Jan Miller
jan.miller@zen.co.uk