Title: The Lady of the House Dress
 Garment: Woman's dress

Inspiration: women’s wear from the Victorian era
(1830's - early 1900’s); the words of Mary Campion; the past and present male and female residents of Danny House

Materials: Paper and Thread

Size: Life-sized

 

On the train of The Lady of the House Dress is a textual detail taken from an extract that comes from an article written by Mary G. Campion, titled ‘ Danny’ and written for 'The Country Home' magazine in the early-mid Twentieth century.
 
The full extract reads: "It is easier to write of a casual acquaintance than of a personal friend, and Danny is the latter to those who know it. It is harder to tell wherein the charm chiefly lies, and whether it looks best in the sweltering days of summer, when it stands an island of mellow red amidst the surrounding green - the green of the waving hayfields, the heavy, thick green of the trees - or in the drear December days, when the cruel north-easterly wind whistles and moans round the gables, like the shrieks of lost spirits. But it is "in the silence of the sleep time, when we set our fancies free," that our imaginations are busiest with the unwritten history of the past, when the dark outline of the house is silhouetted against the evening sky, and only the long windows filled with light; or when the moon rises over the downs to the east, making the sentinel elms cast long shadows like delicate lacework across the green to the house, then, "when the air of solemn stillness holds," the spirits of the past come forth and hold high revel. Past inmates rise before us from the days of the plume and ruffle to the days of the hoop and crinoline. For those who lived and loved within its walls never leave it; and herein lies the charm of association, of personality, in an old house. They come to us, these far-off airy visions of the past of dainty ladies and splendid gentlemen, like a soft sentiment of romance, intangible, half real, like the whiff of lavender from a long-closed drawer." "

 

For more information about the residency that inspired this piece please click here: