In a follow up to my post of yesterday, which mentioned the House of Lucas exhibition at the Gold Museum in Ballarat, I have a wonderful treat for those interested in fashion.
I stumbled across a website called Circa Vintage Clothing. The woman behind this business is Nicole Jenkins who is based in Melbourne. Nicole is a qualified costume designer with a background in film and theatre, and she loves fashion. She has been collecting and restoring since 1980.
With credentials like that, Nicole has the inside running on fashion exhibitions, and she had written two blogs posts on the House of Lucas. They include fabulous photos of the various garments. Nicole has given permission for me to link to them, and I recommend you take a look.
This is the first post where she was writing about the upcoming exhibition and giving the reader a tantalising glimpse into the glamour of the 1930s. The print advertisements are also fascinating.
And in this one, she has been along to see the exhibition for herself. As well as the fashions, Nicole includes a photograph of the Lucas Girls at their machines, and you can see the workforce has grown well beyond the 250 I mentioned yesterday.
Unlike me, Nicole Jenkins keeps her website/blog firmly on topic – vintage fashion – and there are many more interesting articles on there. I’ve just lost myself for an hour or more, and I bet many of you will too. I can already hear the ooohs and ahhhs of, “Oh yes, I had a dress just like that!”
Nicole is also the author of two books: Love Vintage, and Style is Eternal.
Enjoy! (back to the travel stories next)
Thanks Gwen. I love it.
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You’re welcome!
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I’ve just found it and very interesting it is too. Thanks for the links Gwen. I particularly like the 1930s gowns and seeing the photo of the Lucas Girls. Better factory set up than the 19th century, but still tough working conditions and hours no doubt.
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By all accounts conditions were pretty good for them. Nothing like life in a northern mill. I think the photo with them wearing beanies is the girl’s football team. There were a lot of social activities. Very noisy though, with all the machines running at once. And although there was a bank of glass windows on one side, light would not have reached all the way through I imagine.
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Yes, I don’t think people realised that the noise would send them deaf in later years and the poor light would probably mean impaired eyesight later too. Still, no way as horrendous as working by candlelight.
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Now I know where Nadine Garner gets her Jean Beazley outfits from
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It looks spot on doesn’t it?
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I checked with Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing whether she is indeed the supplier for the Dr Blake Mysteries and she said “Absolutely! I’ve contributed a lot of costumes to Dr Blake and other Australian film and TV, like “A Place to Call Home” and the Phryne Fisher series.” Interesting, isn’t it?
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It certainly is, Gwen
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