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Koto from Surinam, displated at the Great Suriname Exhibition, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam.On Wednesday, 16th October, Shelley Anderson wrote:

Surinam, in South America, has a rich heritage — a heritage also reflected in its textiles. Some of this heritage can be seen in the Great Suriname Exhibition now on at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

The exhibit begins with a collection of objects from some of the country’s indigenous groups. Surinam’s indigenous peoples cultivated their own cotton, and spun and then dyed the resulting textiles with natural dyes. A Lokono woman’s blue cotton skirt and shawl (late 19th-20th century) are on display, along with some cotton Kari’na loincloths (pre-1912) and stunning hair and arm ornaments (late 19th to early 20th century) made from feathers, beads, palm leaves and other materials.

Perhaps Surinam’s most iconic garment is the koto, a wide skirt or dress of printed cotton, worn by Creole-Surinamese women with a short jacket and an angisa, or head wrap. There are hundreds of ways to fold an angisa, which are often used to express the wearer’s emotions or opinions. The official history of the koto dates back to 1879, when the Dutch colonial government ruled that women, when outdoors, must wear a dress or paantje (chest covering) and a jacket or gown. Now worn mostly on festive occasions, there are numerous kotos on display, from different time periods.

Paisley motief op een Amerikaanse voedselzak, jaren '40 (TRC 2019.1245). Voor meer information, klip op de illustratie.

Op zondag 13 oktober schreef Erica Riccobon, een nieuwe TRC-vrijwilliger en MA-student aan de Universiteit Leiden:

Het TRC bereidt momenteel een nieuwe tentoonstelling voor die in de tweede helft van 2020 zal worden geopend. De voorlopige titel is 'Van Buteh tot Paisley: De geschiedenis van een universeel siermotief.'

De tentoonstelling belicht de verspreiding en populariteit van het Paisley-motief. Dit siermotief verscheen voor het eerst in Iran onder de naam buteh. Verder ontwikkeld voor het ontwerp van de beroemde Kashmir-sjaals, werd het vanaf de 17e eeuw geëxporteerd naar Europa, via de (Britse) Oost-Indische Compagnie. In Europa werd het gekopieerd en gebruikt in de lokale industrie en werd het opnieuw verspreid over Europa. Het motief, hoewel typisch Oosters van oorsprong, dankt zijn westerse naam aan de Schotse stad Paisley, een belangrijke centrum van weverijen tijdens de industriële revolutie, niet ver van Glasgow.

Photograph, dated 22 December 1943, with Ida van Gent - van der Meij wearing her wedding dress from 1938, now dyed in a lilac colour.On Thursday, 26 September 2019, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

Today (24 September 2019), we had a very interesting donation for the TRC’s Collection, namely a lilac coloured dress with a strong Leiden connection. The dress was initially made by Ida van der Meij (1910-1977) as her wedding dress, when she married Jan van Gent (1909-1983) in Leiden on 20 April 1938. At that time the dress was white. Ida van der Meij’s family lived at Hoge Rijndijk 254, Leiden, which actually is close to where the TRC is situated.

On 22 December 1943, when the Netherlands were occupied by German forces, her brother, Jacobus van der Meij (1917-1958), married Maria de Koning (1918-2008) from Leiderdorp, close to Leiden. It was wartime and clothing was scarce, so Ida dyed her wedding dress lilac, changed the shape of the sleeves and used this updated garment for her brother's wedding.

The dress (TRC 2019.2154) and photographs of the weddings in 1938 and 1943 will be on display in the TRC’s exhibition about textiles and clothing during the Second World War (summer 2020).

Woman's shawl inspired by the LGBTQ flag, Equador, c. 2002 (TRC 2019.1996).On Thursday, 12 September 2019, Shelley Anderson wrote:

Some recent colourful donations to the TRC mark the 50th anniversary of the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights. One of these donations is a rainbow flag (TRC 2019.1995), which has been seen at celebrations around the world. The colours are reproduced on T-shirts such as the special 2019 Pride T-shirt designed by Viktor & Rolf for the HEMA department store chain (TRC 2019.1994), and the limited edition sneaker with rainbow coloured laces and soles by Converse (TRC 2019.1997a-b).

Rainbow colours are also used in the generous donation the TRC has received from the US tie company Ty-amo. They give the traditional male tie a make over and produce ties for both women and men because they want to break “…through outdated stereotypes—in society and in our closets.” Their ties, by designer Alex Summers, may be longer than the standard neckties and can be used as ties, head wraps, scarves or belts. Two special edition ties for the 2019 50th anniversary have been produced and kindly donated to the TRC for the upcoming digital exhibition on LGBTQ+ dress (TRC 2019.2002 and TRC 2019.2003).

Sampler made by Mary Anne McMurray in 1866, Ireland (TRC 2019.2023).On Thursday, 12th September 2019, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

The TRC Leiden has just acquired a sampler (TRC 2019.2023) worked in 1866 by a girl called Mary Anne McMurray, who went to the Mullabrack Church School, in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Mary Anne McMurray may be a girl with the same name who was born in Drumachee, near Mullaghbrack, in 1856. This would make her ten years old when the sampler was stitched. The stitching, it should be added, is consistent with embroidery of a school girl of that age. If this identification is correct, then she went on to marry Wallace Coburn (1828-1906) and had three children. She died in 1897 at the age of 41 and was buried in Lisnadill, Northern Ireland.

Mullabrack Church School was a Protestant primary school in the town of Mullabrack. The building still exists, but no longer used as a school.

Op dinsdag 10 september schrijft Willem Vogelsang:

De opening van de Sokken&Kousen tentoonstelling, op donderdag 5 september j.l., trok ook de belangstelling van de regionale pers. Hier een PDF-document van een artikel in het Leids Dagblad van vrijdag 6 seotember. Klik hier om het artikel te lezen.

Lies van de Wege and Amber Butchart at the opening of the Socks&Stockings exhibition. Photograph by Joost Kolkman, 2019.On Saturday, 7th September, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

The Socks&Stockings exhibition is now open! Thanks to the help of many people, notably Lies van de Wege and Chrystel Brandenburgh and their fantastic knitting crews, we have a very special exhibition. People are calling it colourful, warm, interesting, full of surprises and simply, it‘s GOOD.

What made everything so special was the presence of English fashion and dress historian, Amber Butchart, who officially opened the exhibition and gave a lecture on the history of European silk stockings. Twice in fact, because so many people registered for the lecture we asked Amber to do it again the following day. About 50 people came to the opening and both lectures were full with some 30 people attending each time. Her lecture was informative, well presented and not surprisingly there were many questions afterwards.

Amber had long heard about the TRC Leiden, but had never actually been before. She really liked our approach and the fact we have a ‘broad-based encyclopaedic collection’. She has already asked if she can use items from the collection for a couple of exhibitions and a book. Amber is planning to come back to Leiden on a regular basis and is more than willing to give more lectures on different aspects of European fashion history.

In addition, Amber has very kindly agreed to become an Ambassador for the TRC Leiden and tell her extensive network about what we are doing, what we can do and what we want to do in the future. Interesting days ahead! The exhibition will be open until Thursday, 19th December 2019.

A birthday cardOn Saturday, 7th September 2019, Willem Vogelsang wrote:

I was a bit puzzled lately about this phrase, used by such British luminaries as Boris Johnson. He used it, apparently under his breath, when talking about Jeremy Corbyn. I asked my own Brexit refugee here in Leiden about it, but she had no clue either. Admittedly, she has been living in Europe (!) for some 35 years and may have missed essential developments in English idiom. Also, she never went to Eton, which seems to preclude anyone from joining the ruling British establishment and the likes of Johnson (unless you marry a Russian plutocrat, but she hooked up with an impoverished Dutch academic).

Of course I could ask my mother-in-law, who some years ago told her hairdresser (I should not have listened to her telephone call) that she had a son-in-law who had a ‘reasonable’ command of English. (What about her command, I always wondered, she lived for a long time in Yorkshire, so who is the foreigner?) Should I ring her? Put her to the test? Perhaps better not. A call from Europe early in the morning would ruin anyone’s day in England.

Anyhow, what is this big girl’s blouse? At first I thought it referred to a blouse filled up by a big girl. Big, as in well-endowed (another recent development in the English language, I noticed). That, it soon became clear, was not the case.

So, my research (carried out in bed this morning), told me the phrase refers to a big blouse for a girl. So what does that mean? I have had to deal with the Brits for some time, and I know that the word ‘girl’ is not always appreciated when applied to, what I think is now called a young woman. So the ‘big girl’s blouse’ is apparently somewhat derogatory.

But what the heck is wrong with a big blouse for a girl /young woman? At that stage my research descended to the next level. I found a wonderful website that provided me with the information that I so urgently needed. The phrase seems to originate from northern England (well, my in-laws come from Yorkshire, so there you are; perhaps I should ring my mother-in-law after all).

When applied to a man it means that he is somewhat effeminate, but at the same time it is not really abusive. There is something teasing about it. The phrase seems to be used by now all over the Anglo-Saxon world, unknown to me (but I am European, so what do I know). There even seems to be an Australian feminist comedy series with that title. I am proud to say I did not know that either. So there you are: a girl’s blouse as an item of apparel has reached dazzling depths of fame. The world of dress is full of surprises.

For those of you who want to know more, click here