Whanganui Regional Museum exhibition contrasts fashion from the 1870s and 1970s

A 1970s jumpsuit will be one of the items on display in the Dressed to Thrill exhibition. Photo / Supplied

Lycra speedos will line up alongside frock coats in Whanganui Regional Museum's new exhibition Dressed to Thrill - Clothing and Accessories from the 1870s and 1970s.

The exhibition showcases items from the world of fashion across two very different periods in history, including collection items that have not previously been on public view. On display in the museum's Te Puni Taonga - Treasure House, the exhibition also asks the question "what is a taonga or treasure"?

Brightly coloured Lycra Speedos, plastic jelly shoes and a polyester jumpsuit will be on display along with frock coats, long dresses and walking canes. The extent of social and technological change over the 100-year period is obvious in features such as fabric, hand-sewing versus mass production, style of clothing and the types of accessories worn or used. Archival material in the exhibition includes lace, knitting and crochet patterns, magazines and photographs.

A highlight of the exhibition is a selection of jewellery that combines Māori and Pākehā symbols and materials, including pounamu inlaid with gold and a hei tiki mended with a gold heart, documenting interactions between European settlers and tangata whenua.

Many of the items on display are closely connected with Whanganui people, past and present.

There is a wedding dress worn by Annie Blennerhassett for her wedding to Thomas Blennerhassett in 1873. Thomas was the manager of the New Zealand Clothing Factory in Whanganui. A pair of two-tone golf shoes belonged to Josephine Duncan, daughter of former mayor Charles Mackay, and founder of Women's Refuge in Whanganui. Local potter Rick Rudd donated a grey woollen three-piece suit, which he bought on Fifth Avenue in New York in 1978, to the Museum. A classic Swanndri-style bush shirt was made at the Wanganui Woollen Mills.

The exhibition also reflects changes in attitudes to smoking over the past 150 years. The 1870s objects on display include a smoking jacket and smoking caps. During the 19th century it was uncommon for women to smoke. Men wore jackets and caps, often highly decorated and made from silk or velvet, to protect their clothing and absorb odour while smoking in designated rooms. By the 1970s smoking was a unisex pastime; however, smoking rates had begun to decline. The pipes and decorative lighters used during this decade are now seldom seen.

Dressed to Thrill opens on Thursday, November 12.