Henfield Museum
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Costume

The Henfield Museum Costume Collection


Current Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions
Features

The Collection

Henfield Museum with its eclectic costume collection sits right in the heart of the village. The stories contained within the museum walls and the costume boxes tell of life in the village and help bring its inhabitants, both past and present, to life.
Museums are full of old things. Once upon a time the old things were new things. Costume is a case in point. One day all the dresses, shoes, hats and bags were new, clean and up to the minute fashionable. Some of our local  costume can be used to start you on a voyage of discovery. You can follow a trail from the lace decorating Miss Tobitts nightgown, past a photograph of her family’s shop and then walk up Henfield High Street to her house.
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The magic of a museum lets you see things that were thought important enough to keep and pass on. But also things that were found hidden in attics or kept in the dressing up box and therefore they survived more by accident than design. Amateur theatricals have always been popular in Henfield and some of our items have survived because they were used as stage costumes before being passed to the museum.
Important occasions call for important clothes and ‘occasion’ clothes are often kept and treasured and sometimes worn again by later generations. This trend means that we are fortunate to have fine examples of christening robes, wedding dresses and mourning articles.
 
Not all our costume originates in Henfield but all were donated by people who came to live here. This broadens the scope of the collection considerably and means that our collection ranges from field bonnets worn by farm workers (early part of the 19th century); some stunning examples of Hannington’s of Brighton Victorian splendour; a beaded 1920s dress (Bourne & Hollingsworth of London), and an elegant cocktail ensemble of the 1960s from Barrance & Ford, also late of Brighton.
 
Clothes help to tell stories; what Victorians wore to earn a living, or how your grandparents managed in a war. Pictures (or in this instance costumes) are indeed worth a thousand words.

Stephanie Richards, Costume Curator

Stephanie shares many of her experiences with Henfield's collection and the wider world of costume both on the museum Facebook page and on her personal blog:
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​http://letterstoadress.blogspot.com​

Spotlight

Picture
1920s Beaded Dress
This is a fine example of an evening dress from the 1920s.
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- Lavish silver bead embroidery decorates the whole dress
- Possibly machine or tambour beading
- Material is heavy crêpe
- It is not lined.
- The dress weighs a kilo.
- Labelled on waistband;
‘Bourne and Hollingsworth Ltd Oxford St, W.1.’

Our Costume Curator

Picture
Costume Curator Stephanie Richards & Dr. Adolphus W. Caudle the Younger's Victorian Sussex Rifle Volunteers mess jacket, c. 1860s

Spotlight

Change Eight Bell Set
Beaded gem watch purse, c. 1870.
This wonderfully intricate item was made by the skilled hands of pupils at the Victorian Mowstows Manor school (or Poplar House School) on Henfield High Street, run by the Misses Martin.

Picture
Costume Curator Stephanie Richards and Curator Alan Barwick negotiate a dress prior to the Frock Tales talk, 2017. They stand in front of the Change Eight Bell set
Picture
The costume display at the Festival of Britain Exhibition, 1951. Held at the Boys’ School on Henfield Common

Images on this page are licensed for educational and non commercial use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) . Please credit 'Henfield Museum' and contact us if you would like to use an image for commercial purposes or at a higher quality.
​Website funded by the Friends of Henfield Museum, built & maintained by R. S. Gordon. Credit to Mike Ainscough for moving the website idea from discussion to reality.
© Henfield Museum. All rights reserved except where stated otherwise.
  • Home
    • Our Vision
    • The History of Henfield Museum
  • Collections
    • The Marjorie Baker Photo Collection >
      • Those Who Served
    • Costume
    • Our Art Collection
    • Wade Family Watercolours
    • Historic Photograph Collection
    • Audio Library
    • Maps & Aerial Photos
  • Exhibitions
  • Henfieldians Past
  • Blog
  • Heritage Projects
    • Henfield's Natural History >
      • Arborea
      • The William Borrer Transcription Project
    • Oral Histories
    • A Favourite Object
    • Henfield Heritage Trails
    • Local History Research
  • Friends of Henfield Museum
    • Join Form: The Friends of Henfield Museum
    • Friends: Acquisitions
    • Friends: Past Events
  • Henfield History Group
  • Key Resources
  • Education & Outreach
  • Gift Shop
  • Contact Us and Opening Times