The topics of our fascination

The symposium is almost upon us, though we are still taking registrations. (Please note that the Hocken tours are very nearly full.) The previous post highlights some of the symposium-adjacent activities – exhibitions, workshops, tours but of course there is also a full programme of papers, with a keynote and two streams throughout the two days.

Our theme, Fascination, is a nod to Eden Hore’s collection, the lure of the fancy and luxe and the transition from interest to passion. We thought it would bring in admirers, collectors, curators and creators, and so it did. Our sessions will cover sub-themes like material alchemy and luxurious threads; material expressions, flamboyance, and ritual dress; collections: inspirations and impacts; material and plant worlds; fascinating textile stories. Our presenters, as ever, are scholars, artists and makers and the objects of fascination they are sharing range from the elemental to the tongue-in-cheek.

This year’s keynote speaker is Emeritus Professor Hilary Radner, who continues to share her professional interest in film with a consideration of Greta Gerwig’s 2023 blockbuster, Barbie, with a particular focus on the way Barbie’s feet and shoes change during her big adventure, and how they fit into the bigger picture of style and substance. Barbie’s status as a pop culture and costume icon is such that she will pop up again later in the weekend.

After morning tea, the material alchemy stream of papers begins with time travel, as Pamela Trainor discusses the weaving of Homerian times. Weaving is a key element of Homer’s Odyssey, as an aside the new film, The Return, features the tapestry that Penelope uses to stall the suitors who see her as an eligible widow. Fast forward some years, but still in the Mediterranean area, Kelly Thompson will compare velvet weaving in Italy and Aotearoa. Siân Quennell Torrington will talk about her art practice, which combines textiles and textile techniques with surprising materials; she is exhibiting some of her work in Dunedin during the symposium.

In the first collection inspiration and impacts paper, artist Arielle Walker combines textile traditions from her Nana’s lace-making and samplers and revisits these with fibre techniques from throughout her ancestral lines. Pip Steel is also fascinated by a historic sampler, and has used ‘Elizabeth Widdop’s schoolgirl stitching’ to unravel a 19th century social narrative. Toitῡ history curator Seán Brosnahan’s focus is weddings, and will consider continuity and change in Otago’s wedding fashions over 160 years as represented in the Toitῡ collections.

After lunch, fascinating textile stories beckon, beginning with Maggie Craig-Pearson’s exploration of early colonial Ōtepoti and how this has led to a textile design collection that subverts the traditional toile de jouy style. Anna Deacon’s paper examines textile items in a late 18th century collection held at Auckland Museum. Sue Prescott’s stitching stories are those to be found in textiles in India, and their histories of craft and pattern. Marie Dunn will talk to her fascination with tohu, native plant dyes and wool, and how they combine traditions in her textile practice.

It’s going to be a tough choice between this and the luxurious threads of the other stream. Moira White will showcase a set of silk samples from Tehran; Dinah Vincent’s inner magpie has been caught by the ‘golden garments’ in a significant gift to the National Gallery of Victoria. Elaine Webster started collecting scarves by accident, but has since gathered a few hundred of these ‘sensual souvenirs’. The Hocken’s Amanda Mills will talk us through some of the fashion and textile treasures held in the Hocken Collections.

We return on Saturday to material expressions. Dan Collings shares the intrigue of trompe-l’oeil being used to challenge Western gender associations within digital knit textiles. Rowan Holt’s art practice is very much of the hand, working with woven cotton dyed paper. Margo Barton’s talk is also tactile, considering what it’s like to wear fashion, the way it feels on our bodies.

Barbie makes her repeat performance in the flamboyance stream, with Frank New sharing the story of Jeremy Scott’s Barbie-inspired collection for Moschino. Gracie Matthews will follow this with her experience of helping people pick on their outfits for fancy dress parties.

To round things off after lunch, material and plant worlds is presented by artists and makers. Michelle Mayn, will share her experience of working with NZ plant fibres. This is followed by Christine Brimer, Steven Junil Park, Gina Russell and Georgina May Young outlining a project that involves growers and artists working together with textiles from a clear point of origin.

The afternoon’s other option, ritual dress, offers two takes on academic regalia. Barbara Benson will talk about the conventions and statutes which have evolved around regalia; while Scott Pilkington moves beyond the conventions to explore how Rainbow communities can represent their identities within Aotearoa’s regalia traditions.

We wind up with the hidden stories of museums. Toitῡ’s Jane Macknight and Beth Rees talk to the focus on ‘making bodies’ for displaying dress in recent exhibitions. Rachelle Moore’s collection is Marj Moore’s museum, a private collection through which Marj’s granddaughter, Rachelle looks at the narratives embedded within the garments and textiles kept by the family since the early 1900s.

Having a double stream does inevitably mean some FOMO, but it’s allowed us to offer more papers and broaden the scope. Despite the breadth, there’s something that emerges in reading the abstracts to precis – fascination turns out to look a lot like love. Once more, we can expect to be informed, inspired, and deeply moved by what our presenters have to share over the weekend.

Please note that we will soon need to confirm numbers so either register online via https://costumeandtextile.nz/event/fascination-symposium-2025/. If you would prefer to pay by bank transfer, please email treasurer@costumeandtextile.nz.