- LOEL THOMSON CLOTHING COLLECTION -
Fabric of time LOEL THOMSON’S CLOTHING COLLECTION TELLS THE STORY OF EVERYDAY LIFE.
The amazing and important collection of 10,000 items of clothing, jewellery and accessories dating back more than 200 years is now on permanent public display for the first time at MOVE. Loel and husband Bryan had a successful truck dealership in Shepparton for many years and purchased and restored the 1879 Italianate mansion Noorilim on the banks of the Goulburn River near Murchison. It was during research for the restoration that Loel became interested in what people had worn during the past 200 years in Australia. For the next 20 years she built a substantial collection which has enormous historical and social importance. “I was dealing with curtains, carpets, light fittings
and the garden, and I realised that costume was also an important part of it,” Loel said. The collecting was serious, with courses undertaken in museum studies in Australia and overseas. “It isn’t national costume or sporting costume or uniforms, it is the everyday clothes that would have been worn in Australia,” Loel said. “The collection is clothing that would have been worn in Australia for the last just over 200 years — ordinary, everyday clothes.” Rather than a study in fashion, Loel is careful to explain that her collection is a social history and, just like the trucks, cars, motorcycles, pushbikes and memorabilia elsewhere at MOVE, it helps reveal more about us — how we worked, lived and looked. “I haven’t said no if somebody brings me a Dior, but not everyone wears high-class clothing; the collection is comfortable, affordable clothes. “And with that in mind, I’ve got to be quite strongwilled not to accept every wedding dress that people bring to me, but during the war when fabric was rationed so severely, very often a bride could not have a full wedding dress, we do have examples made from curtain material which was not rationed.” There are important local items in the collection, including the dress then Shepparton Lady Mayoress Nancy Vibert had made to wear when she was presented to Queen Elizabeth II during the Royal Tour of Australia in 1954. Royalty exerted a strong influence on fashion in Australia.
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MOVE – Museum of Vehicle Evolution
