All Dressed Up: Costume, Fashion and Style in Paintings from the Harrogate Fine Art Collection

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The paintings in All Dressed Up, a new exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, tell the story of fashion across the centuries and across the social classes. The paintings, all selected from The Harrogate Fine Art Collection, offer an engaging look into costumes and their wearers: from the fashionable garb of 16th century Knaresborough aristocrat Sir Francis Slingsby, who was beheaded for treason, to the working clothes of 1930's Kentish hop pickers. Find clues in the costumes to discover more about the wearer's wealth, status and social aspirations, as in Henri Guillaume Schlesinger's Girl and Lovebirds, depicting a young girl wearing a fine silk dress typical of the 1870's, of the kind only the wealthy middle-classes could afford. Take the opportunity to learn more about historic costume at All Dressed Up: A closer look at historic costume, a study day focusing on costumes in Harrogate's fine art and museum collections, with talks from costume curators from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Monday 22nd April 2013 9.45am until 4pm at the Mercer Art Gallery, £30 per person. To book please contact the gallery.