by Rose Lawrence
On Saturday, June 30, 2012, Strawbery Banke Museum hosts the “Passion For Fashion Gala” including a Champagne Reception and Celebrity Designers Runway Show.. This event, a benefit to support the Museum’s education programs and preservation efforts, will take place under a tent on the Museum’s grounds at 14 Hancock Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Gala is being held in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibit, Thread, which is on view through October 31, 2012.
“When we visited Strawbery Banke Museum and saw their collection of garments that had never before been publicly displayed, my husband Larry and I were completely enchanted,” said Janet Y. Larose, co-curator of the Museum’s Thread: Stories of Fashion at Strawbery Banke, 1740-2012.” “We said, ‘Wow – these are incredible! They can be the inspiration for contemporary designers – and we can put on a fashion runway show!!” And the idea for the Gala was born.
Renowned fashion designer and television star, Austin Scarlett of “Project Runway: Season 2”, “Project Runway: All-Stars” and Lifetime’s “On the Road with Austin and Santino” serves as the evening’s Emcee. Museum patrons, Lawrence A. Larose and Janet Y. Larose, who co-curated the exhibit with Museum curator Elizabeth Farish, and conceptualized the event, serve as Co-Chairs.
The Thread exhibition features the extraordinary Strawbery Banke collection of men’s, women’s and children’s fashions dating from the 1740’s through the 1950’s. These pieces are displayed together with cutting-edge creations by nineteen contemporary designers inspired by garments in the museum collection. Presented in period-specific vignettes in six historic houses on Strawbery Banke’s 10-acre campus, the Thread exhibition portrays the people of Portsmouth, the way they lived and worked and the way they presented themselves to the world,. From the heavy cut silk and gold buttons of John Cutts’ suit that speak to his Colonial prominence and explain why he would be the man who met with Paul Revere in Stoodley’s Tavern, to the tiny cuffs and tiny buttons of Sarah Goodwin’s gown, made of the printed cotton woven at her husband’s steam factory, New Hampshire Governor Ichabod Goodwin’s, fashions, both contemporary and antique, resonate with those who see them. The contemporary designs echo the historical ones; for example, an old feathered cape inspired a Philip Treacy fascinator from London. The fluid lines of a silk Victorian wedding gown are repeated in Austin Scarlett’s satin dress. The bubble-gum pink lace of a 1954 prom dress turns to dark teal and zippers in the hands of Katerina Lankova of Aspen and New York. And the jewel-tones of the 1740 crewel-work London lady’s shoe, the signature piece of the Thread exhibit, are interpreted in velvet and rhinestone buckles by contemporary London shoe designer Emma Hope.
“Strawbery Banke, one of the country’s finest open-air museums, tells the stories of the many generations who settled in this Portsmouth, New Hampshire ‘Puddle Dock’ community from the late l7th to the mid-20th century,” commented Museum President and CEO, Lawrence J. Yerdon. “By viewing fashion as art and inviting contemporary designers to work with items from the Strawbery Banke Museum collection, the Museum and the curators of Thread join the growing circle of institutions expanding the audience and broadening the definition of ‘living history.’”
Designers participating in the exhibit and the Celebrity Designers Runway Show include Austin Scarlett, Epperson, Emily Muller, Carter Smith, Emma Hope, Philip Treacy, Katerina Lankova, Chesley McLaren Robin Bettencourt and the New York Milliners’ Guild. The exhibition and runway show also showcase the work of rising young local New Hampshire designers Sarah Beth Johnson, Sarah Koski, Bridget Bleckmann, Erana and Leah Kirk.
The Thread exhibit at Strawbery Banke was made possible in part by grants from the Davis Family Foundation, the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, The Coby Foundation, Ltd., the Roger R. and Theresa A. Thompson Endowment Fund and Elisabeth Bartlett Sturges.
(For more information on the Gala or to purchase tickets, please visit Strawbery Banke Museum’s website: www.strawberybanke.org/tickets. Guests may purchase tickets for the Champagne Reception and Celebrity Designers Runway Show ($75) or for the full Passion For Fashion Gala with preferred admission to the Champagne Reception & Celebrity Designers Runway Show and a place at the VIP Dinner ($250).
About Strawbery Banke Museum
Using restored houses, featured exhibits, historic landscapes and gardens, and interpretive programs, about the Museum as a place to gather and to learn about how ordinary people lives over three centuries of New England history, visit www.strawberybanke.org Strawbery Banke Museum is located at 14 Hancock Street in downtown Portsmouth, NH and is open to the public 7 days a week, May 1 through October 31.
