Heritage et AL

The latest blog post from Walter Cook at the advent of his retirement from The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa is a fascinating read. He divulges the 'tricks of the trade' used to date photographs. I was so interested in this idea, that I decided to test out his 'taxonomy of fashion', which is based on women's fashion and hairstyle trends of the day. I used these dated headings as a framework to search for complementary photos in the Sir George Grey Special Collections, using the Auckland Libraries Heritage Images database. You can see from what I found below, that it was quite a success! In a few cases where we don't know the exact date the photograph was taken, the taxonomy can be used as another tool in helping us to pin this down the date to a narrower time period. So enjoy and thanks to the National Library for the inspiration and what turned out to be a very fun exercise! The full crinoline, 1856 to 1865. Characterised...

Fashion and design students or anyone with a sartorial lean will be pleased to discover some of Auckland Libraries fashion related resources. Ref: 34-M741, Model for Milne and Choyce Department Store, 1940-1949,  Sir George Grey Special Collections  The Heritage Images database is a great place to spot images of fashion fads. Advertising shots, candid family snaps and professional portraits all show clothing trends through the decades. A great way of refining an image search is by using what librarian’s call ‘subject headings’: this is a defined keyword or tag. In the advanced search screen subject headings can be entered in as a search term. Some examples of fashion related subject headings are: ‘clothing and dress’, ‘fashion’ and ‘mens clothing’. Ref: Advanced search screen on Heritage Images database

What did children in the past wear? What clothing nightmares did they have to endure?! Well look no further and take a trip back into the clothing faux pas of the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You won't find anything like these garments in Pumpkin Patch! Outfits were sometimes stiff and starchy mini versions of adult clothing: Ref: B0150, Grainger family portrait, c. 1890s, North Auckland Research Centre At other points in time, it was all bows, lace and puff sleeves.....: Ref: 31-WP18, portrait of the Archdale-Taylor family, c.1914, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: 31-55861, Misses Halls, 1909, Sir George Grey Special Collection s