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Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and Home

Start Date 25 March 2017
End Date 28 February 2019
Venue Colonial Williamsburg
Location Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Curator Linda Baumgarten
Exhibition with papered wall of prints from a swatch book in the museum collection.
Exhibition with screen displaying catwalk of recreated textiles from the collection.
Exhibition with text panels, textile swatches and miniature garments.

With printed textiles that range in date from the late 17th century into the 19th century, the stunning designs and bright colors make the objects in this exhibit a feast for the eyes.

Linda Baumgarten outlines “this exhibit features printed textiles, linen and cottons, printed between 1720 and 1820. The hallways are papered with designs from a swatch book in the collection. Visitors then confront a video of a fashion show of the museum employees wearing reproductions of the textile shown in the exhibit”. Baumgarten explains the museum “wanted to show people that the textiles are not static pieces and worn by living, breathing human beings. They moved and flowed around the body”. Baumgarten highlights “it can be fascinating to people how much chemistry and technology was involved in the early 18th and 19th century”.

Images courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.