Two exhibitions that showcase 1920s clothes

I know, I should have posted yesterday because the date was interesting.  It was 12/11/13.  Would it have been 11/12/13 in the USA?  I can't remember how they do their dates.
Anyway, today is ok, it is 13/11/13.

I have recently been to two exhibitions showcasing art deco fashions.  One was at the NGV, the Edward Steichan and Art Deco Fashion exhibition. The photographs were black and white, with some gorgeous lighting effects.  I enjoyed the fashions and photography, my friend is more interested in movies than I am (not hard to be more interested than I am!), she loves the old movies too. So we both had a great time looking at the photos.  The clothes on display were spectacular - and we both loved them.  It took us much longer than we had expected, there is so much to look at.

No photographs allowed of course.

Then today I went to Rippon Lea Estate to see the exhibition of some of the costumes worn by Essie Davis, as Phryne Fisher, in the murder mystery series on ABC tv. 

The costumes and accessories are wonderful and you can get up really close to them, examine the detail. Quite a lot of the fabrics, accessories and costumes come from the costume designer's collection. Marion Boyce must have an amazing collection - and a fantastic cataloguing system, as well as a good memory to know what to look for in her collection.

The clothes are lovely but, as with the Grace Kelly exhibition, they look so much better on the body.  Some of the notes pointed out that the designs are made to swing with the movement of the body, which would explain why they look so much better in the show.  Not to say the exhibition is not wonderful, it is well worth visiting.  It has been extended but finishes on December 1st.

Another thing I noticed is that some of the costumes seem to have been designed for one scene, which might only last a minute or two. Such a lot of work for such little time in the production!

Once again, no photos were allowed.  We could have tried on some costumes at the entrance and photographed ourselves but that seemed a come-down after all the images of Essie Davis that were around.

The grounds of Rippon Lea are huge, with wonderful gardens.  We wandered around outside a bit before going in. It was drizzling but still worth it.  It was raining when we came out, so we didn't look at the rest of the gardens.  Was I complaining about the heat recently? It has gone, gone, gone.
It is such a lovely old house that it will be worth another visit in the future.
I did take some photos outside. I am thinking of designing a green tapestry and the gardens were so lush that there were lots of photo opportunities.

There are huge trees throughout the garden.

This is part of an apple orchard on the estate. I couldn't resist the windmill.