Fascination, now live

We’re delighted to announce that the provisional programme for the 2025 symposium, Fascination, is now available (you can download it below) and that our online registration is live. Thank you for your patience while we’ve ironed our the wrinkles; we’ve really appreciated the interest expressed while the technicalities were finessed.

Here’s the overview on what’s become an immersion weekend with 27 presentations across two streams, two exhibition-related talks, two behind-the-scenes activities, a couple of informal associated maker activities, and of course an AGM and dinner.

The first symposium-related event is an invitation from our friends at the Hocken library. Katherine Milburn and Amanda Mills are well-versed in the special textile assets of their substantial, varied research collection, and are looking forward to sharing some of the Hocken’s highlights with symposium attendees. Please book for one of these sessions when you register, spaces are limited.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ll probably have heard that Central Otago Couture: the Eden Hore Collection has made its way to a bookshop near you. [Update: all the publicity is really working, Toitū sold out of their stock at the launch on 1 April.] The book coincides with a new exhibition, Eden in Dunedin, at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum curated by Jane Malthus, co-author of the book alongside Claire Regnault. As this exhibition is something of a backdrop to the 2025 symposium, it’s fitting that it will feature on the programme, as a panel discussion between fashion scholars and key Eden Hore figures. This is a public event and Toitū is keeping the museum open late so people have the chance to see the exhibition for themselves after the talk.

Starting on Friday 2 May, the symposium hits the ground running with Emeritus Professor Hilary Radner considering the compelling detail of Barbie’s shoes and feet in the 2024 Greta Gerwig movie. After morning tea, the first of four two-stream sessions, then lunch, the second session, and the AGM. It’s going to be a big day, because we follow the AGM with a mini-field-trip to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery for a tour of the THIS IS NOM*d exhibition, led by the label’s founder Margarita Robertson herself. After which, it’s round the corner to the symposium dinner at Etrusco at the Savoy. We’ll be greeted by a glass of Prosecco and the first course of an Italian feast. Etrusco is a local institution: it’s a beautiful historic place, with friendly efficient service, great food and a buzzy atmosphere.

Saturday 3 May will start a bit more gently, with time allowed for visits to the farmers’ market at the railway station where you can grab some breakfast and eye up the autumn harvest. The formal part of the day will include more papers and a summary to close. Toitū are also inviting those involved with GLAM collections to take part in a development session, providing peer review and discussing the significance of the museum’s extensive costume and textile holdings. It’s an opportunity for professional (and honorary) peers to look at the collection and share curatorial perspectives and experience with each other in a practical setting. Please contact osm.collections@dcc.govt.nz to register your interest.

There’s more detail in the provisional programme with the proviso that some things change in the last month. There are definitely more details to come about some of the auxiliary events, and the range of papers and presenters, so if you’ll forgive the cliches – watch this space, and our social media – we’ll keep you posted.