00:00 A new display at the Walker Art Gallery celebrates female designers. Featuring those of global
00:06 influence including Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant and Laura Ashley, there's also pieces
00:12 with an important connection to Liverpool.
00:15 Women designers, especially those in France, were key to the development of fashion throughout
00:22 the 20th century. Now some of the costumes on display show the influence of Parisian
00:32 fashion houses. So we have two gowns on display which were sold at a Liverpool shop, T&S Bacon,
00:41 on Bold Street. And Bold Street was one of the most fashionable shopping streets in Liverpool
00:48 in the early 20th century and is still fashionable today.
00:53 Creating Visions Women Designers 1900-2000 celebrates 100 years of women designers and
01:00 features 14 items of dress which are on display to the public for the very first time.
01:05 What gave me the idea for this display was a lecture that I attended online about women's
01:14 ceramicists. So that prompted me to think about the women designers in the collection
01:21 at National Museums Liverpool. And although the main display is focusing on women fashion
01:29 designers, we also have another small display at the entrance to the Craft and Design Gallery
01:36 which for the next 18 months will be showcasing the work of enamels, jewellery, glass, all
01:46 made by women. The display features some of the most exciting and significant designs
01:51 from the last 100 years. What we're really hoping people, our visitors, will get from
01:58 this display is a sense of the different visions that women fashion designers were creating.
02:07 So we have the exoticism of Thea Porter, we have the tailored sophistication of Jean Muir,
02:16 of Janice Wainwright, we have the nostalgia of Gina Frattini, of Laura Ashley, the beautiful
02:25 elegance of evening wear in the 1930s throughout the 40s. And then we come to the radical street
02:36 fashion of Mary Quant who pioneered the mini skirt and we have the anarchic urban youth
02:45 look of Vivienne Westwood. Also on show will be a selection of jewellery, enamels and glass
02:51 which will change throughout the duration of the display. They draw from National Museums
02:56 Liverpool's extensive decorative arts collection which is one of the finest in the UK.
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