Yorkshire Fashion Archive

A couple of weeks ago, over Easter I went to Salts Mill in Saltaire.  If you don't know Sir Titus Salt (world's coolest name?) built Saltaire in 1853 for his factory and to house his workers as the pollutions, overcrowding, and generally living conditions were creating major health problems for the people in Bradford and surrounding cities.  So in Saltaire every family had their own house (as opposed to multiple families sharing) with indoor plumbing and toilets, and local amenities.  Although Salt was a pious tea totaller with a strange dislike of washing lines and so residents were required to attend church every Sunday, stay off the grass, drink nought but water, and keep their laundry to themselves.

Anyway, Salts Mill is now an art gallery housing all things David Hockney related including old paintings of swimming pools, photo montages, and new ipad produced pics of flowers (erm not his best imo).  The gallery is massive as it used to be the factory but its light and airy and a perfect gallery space, and serves well a giant art book shop- a really really good one btw.  There is also a small gallery space with a permanent exhibition on Sir Titus Salt, and a temp exhibition.  Which is currently some pieces from the Yorkshire Fashion Archive- a project by Leeds University (sigh why didn't I do that course???). 

TBH there wasn't that much there, my mum had told me it was an exhibition on 100 years of fashion but the space is so small I was skeptical they would have much.  The pieces were mainly from the 40's and 50's with one set from the 60's, they also had photographs of the people wearing the clothes, and the places they bought them which touched on the history of the local area.  I find social history interesting, and fashion and clothing* being part of popular culture offer a way to learn about our recent history.  Fashion and clothing do not exist in a vacuum they have affected society and vice versa, so I find it all very interesting.  And tidbit to tell your friends- there was a shop in Yorkshire owned by a man called Montegue who would provide a gentlemen with a full suit including shirt, waistcoat, trousers, jacket, and underwear.  And it was called...The Full Monty!

*Fashion is not necessarily the same as clothes, or clothes that most people actually wear and it never has been.  Fashion by its very nature is constantly changing, making sure there is a new vogue every few months maintains it's exclusivity.  It has therefore always been a preoccupation with those that have time and money, although clothes have become increasingly mass-produced and therefore accessible.  So I think fashion and regular clothes have an interesting relationship.