This year our annual summer exhibit is called Fashion Files: Dressing Sooke. Our textile collection has over 1200 items that includes clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, accessories (glasses, hats, etc), textile samples, doilies and blankets. Also included in the collection are objects such as dolls made from fabric, feathers, hat boxes and vintage dress forms. Our collections team has spent the past two years reorganizing and inventorying this collection and we are excited to finally be able to show off some our most unique pieces. The exhibit will feature artifacts and archival material from our own collection and items loaned to us from the public. The content will look at what Sooke residents have donated to the museum and how these items were important to them and the community.
There are a wide variety of outfits in the exhibit. Myrtle Pedneault’s (nee Currie) eye catching canary yellow knitted wool wedding dress is on display with a photograph of her wearing it. A sealskin jacket worn by Kate, or Kitty, Gordon is one of many items from the 1900s displayed. You will also see Dan Haverty’s work outfit that he wore in 1982 during his last year as a local high rigger in the logging industry. Other objects to look forward to include a British Columbia Auxiliary Police jumpsuit donated by Captain P W deP Taylor, a replica of Manuel Quimper’s Spanish uniform (discovery of Sooke), a 1950s Sooke ball uniform and a funerary necklace made of human hair. Additionally, there will be a sewing corner that features an early 1900s Singer sewing table and various fabric samples, projects and tools.
This year the photo-op station will be bigger than ever. It will feature an array of costume pieces that visitors can dress up in and take a fun picture that, if emailed to the museum, will be printed out and featured in the exhibit. A picture of Sooke in the 1920s is used as the background for the photo-op.
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Maritime Museum of BC, The Royal BC Museum and The Gap Factory Store (Westshore mall) for the loan of several mannequins and dress forms. The exhibit opens Sunday June 28 and ends Sunday September 20. The exhibit opens at noon during the museum’s annual Open House and salmon barbeque event (12-3). We hope to see you there!
