Clothing & Textiles
The museum displays items of clothing, textiles, shoes, hats and related items both domestic and commercial including a full fireman’s outfit and naval uniforms. Many of the items belonged to residents of Waikanae and the surrounding areas. The collection includes beautiful items of clothing and handwork, everyday clothing reflecting fashion of the time, right through to the accessories like handkerchiefs and scarves that accompanied them. The collection also includes dressmaking equipment including the old faithful Singer treadle sewing machine.
Evening Gloves
Date: 1900
Title: Glove Evening
Description: Pair of lady's lace gloves. Handmade from cream coloured thread. Chevron pattern with circles on top, extends to the cuff which covers the wrist. The fingers are plain.
During the twentieth century, wearing gloves was a necessity rather than a fashion statement. Wearing gloves was essentially a sign of hygiene and healthy living used primarily for protecting oneself from catching illnesses and preventing the transmission of diseases. Later however, women wore gloves for the purpose of hiding their social class. Women were able to climb the social ladder if they pretended to fit a higher social status. Finally, in an era where people took pride in dressing modestly, gloves were a key concept. Gloves were associated with modesty – women who wore gloves were taken more seriously than others. It was the sole factor in distinguishing whether they were honorable in society.
Riding Jacket
Date: 1900
Title: Ladies Riding Jacket
Description: Lady's black riding jacket with velvet panels and fabric covered buttons, belonging to the Port Family from Te Maku Farm, Waikanae.
Today's riding attire, comes from hundreds of years of tradition. Since the mid-17th century, a formal habit for riding sidesaddle usually consisted of a tailored jacket with a long skirt (sometimes called a petticoat) to match and a tailored shirt or chemisette. A hat, often in the most formal style of the day (since the Victorian era, a top hat with a veil has been worn), low-heeled boots, gloves, and often a necktie or stock complete the ensemble. Typically, throughout the period the riding habit used details from male dress, whether large turned cuffs, gold trims or buttons. The colours were very often darker and more masculine than those on normal clothes. Earlier styles can be similar to the dresses worn by boys before breeching in these respects.
Dancing Shoes
Date: 1931
Title: Dancing Shoes.
Description: Pair of lady's wedding shoes, champagne colour and made from silk or satin. There are small white leather strips in a fan shape stitched on the front. Just above the insole is a small rectangular blue piece of material attached with yellow stitching that has "Chic SHOES". Underneath attached to the brown sole it has "5" etched on the surface. The shoes were worn by Mary Wellock on her wedding day (married to Alfred Barnaby Eames) on June 2nd 1931 in Napier.
It was during the Regency era of romance and feisty heroines that the wedding shoe/boot is born. Before the Regency period, ladies’ shoes were mainly delicate slippers, but as fashions adapted to increasingly active lifestyles, so did footwear. Satin and kid leather shoes and boots graced ballroom floors, with more elaborate designs becoming a part of a traditional wedding outfit. During this time Queen Victoria influenced all trends, from those surrounding morality to wedding customs. She was of course, Queen Victoria. Credited with her choice in footwear influencing bridal shoe styles.
Apron
Date:
Title: Apron Cooking.
Description: White cotton apron with a pocket in the front. The apron belonged to Peggy Ryan's grandmother who was born in Carlow, Ireland. She came out to Queensland, Australia where she lived for twenty years on a farmlet. From 1900 she lived in Petone, New Zealand as a housewife. She had five children born in Australia and New Zealand and later died in 1935. Peggy retired to Waikanae.
The principal use of Granny’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. Along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven, it was great for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, and wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot stove. From the garden, it carried all manner of vegetables and fallen apples.
Lemon Squeezer Hat
Date: 1940/50s
Title: Lemon Squeezer Scout Hat
Description: Khaki coloured 'Lemon Squeezer' Hat with leather band. Front of hat has a badge with the letters 'R S' which was for 'Roving Scout', making this a Scout hat (rather than a military one). There are two vent holes on each side of the hat. There are additional holes through which a chin strap has been threaded. A leather band with strap and buckle surrounds the hat and is stamped with a symbol of a leaf, a letter 'm' with an arrow through it and a circular logo within which are two mountains, on top of one mountain is a flag with the letters 'PH' on the flag.
Robert Baden-Powell held the first Scout camp in Dorset, in 1907. Lieutenant Colonel David Cossgrove wrote to Baden-Powell, with whom he had served during the South African War, asking for permission to organise scouting in New Zealand. The first troop was established at Kaiapoi, Canterbury, in July 1908 – one of the first outside Britain. Scouting grew quickly into the country’s largest youth organisation. The Scouts’ motto was “Be Prepared”. Their first hats were hand-me-downs from the military cadets, but these were soon replaced by felt ‘lemon-squeezers’ as worn by Baden-Powell. In the 1960s the lemon-squeezer hat was replaced by a beret.
Bloomers
Date: 1900
Title: Bloomers
Description: Lady's cotton bloomers, pink with patches. Worn under a long full skirt. Used by Port Family women and were especially useful when working with bees, as they protected the legs when a bee would get under the layers of skirts.
Bloomers, “rational dress” for women advocated by Amelia Jenks Bloomer in the early 1850s. The entire costume, called the “Bloomer costume” or simply “bloomers,” consisted of a short jacket, a skirt extending below the knee, and loose “Turkish” trousers, gathered at the ankles.
The innovation stirred much controversy and eventually fell out of fashion. The name survived, however, to be used for pantaloons, divided skirts, knickerbockers that women wore while riding bicycles in the 1890s, and women’s loose, baggy underwear.