The Society, founded in 1973, has a varied membership interested in costume and textiles and drawn from all walks of life. Some are professionals who work in these areas while others just have a general interest in the subject.
Twice a year, in March and October, we hold all-day study days. These cover a range of topics, matching our members' interests, and have included topics such as the Civil War, sports clothing, head coverings, children's clothing, footwear and conservation amongst others. We also have two afternoon meetings, one in February and one near Christmas, both with talks. Twice a year we aim to have behind-the-scenes to museums and workshops visits. Our magazine "Wardrobe" is published three times a year and is free to members.
As a vibrant society we welcome anyone who has interests in fashion, costume or textiles. We hope you will join us and look forward to meeting you!
The precursor of the West of England Costume Society (WECS) arose in 1973 from discussions between West Country members of the Costume Society (CS) who wanted to organise some meetings in their local area. Thus a group calling itself the Western Branch of the Costume Society was formed with the blessing of CS, which publicised the branch in the following year’s journal Costume. At the time branch members were obliged to become CS members and local meetings took place in people’s homes with a small contribution for refreshments. In the first year three meetings were held with talks by members of the branch on Children's Clothes, Needlework Tools and Lace & Lace Bobbins. On each occasion there was a display of collector’s items and average attendances were around fifteen.
The branch continued along these lines for the first decade with a name-change to the West of England Branch of the Costume Society and successful programmes of events whilst membership slowly increased to 34 in 1984. Eventually it was decided to raise a subscription to cover basic running costs and bring in an occasional speaker. Obviously the branch was beginning to outgrow the casual domestic accommodation for its meetings but was saved by the Fashion Research Centre who offered a meeting space in their premises in The Circus, Bath. It was around this time that the branch was assembling a textile library, sourcing and listing fabrics, which eventually became part of the archives of the Fashion Research Centre.
Also in 1984 a problem arose over the status of the branch in light of the charitable status of the CS. This was resolved by declaring independence with good will on all sides; the group ceased to be a branch of the CS, membership of CS was no longer a prerequisite and our current name was adopted.
In 1985 we inaugurated an annual study day, The Rise of Couture, organised through the University of Bristol's Department for Continuing Education. These were very successful and continued until 1998. However, whilst theses were not to the Society's financial benefit, they had been instrumental in publicising our activities and in increasing membership.
In the nineties a more adventurous (and lucrative) programme of events allowed the Society to amass sufficient funds to donate £2000 to the V&A to help fund the purchase of the a 1620's jacket once owned by Margaret Layton together with a portrait of her wearing it. A proud achievement and one that set the pattern for several donations over the years for the purchase or conservation of important costume-related artefacts including two evening dresses by Vionnet, part of the Fashion Museum's collection.
Lately we have held two full study days each year, one in March and the other in October. The latter is named in honour of Janet Arnold, who was a clothing historian, costume designer, teacher, conservator, author and good friend to the Society. Her best-known series of works, Patterns of Fashion, included accurate scale sewing patterns, used by museums and theatres alike, not to mention WECS. In 2004 we set up four teams who each reproduced an outfit featured in her books - a 1770s polonaise dress, a 1852 Victorian dress, an 1861 cage crinoline (original in the Museum of London) and a 1928 evening dress. These were presented to the wider members at the JA Study Day that year at Redmaids' High School, the school that Janet attended.
In 2005 we hosted a celebration of the CS's 40th anniversary in the Assembly rooms, Bath, featuring the above-mentioned models in all their finery tucking in to a substantial cream tea. Later, in 2015 we were pleased to join CS at their Waterloo Study Day in Bath.
A few years back we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a similar idea, which was just as enthusiastically embraced and this time included a male model (albeit not a model male)! The outfits featured were a 1930's dress, a copy of the 1592 dress in which Eleanora of Toledo was buried and a dress and militia uniform of the early ninteenth century whose originals are held in Salisbury Museum. Some of these outfits have gone on to museums and others remain in private collections.