Hanging By A Thread?

Costumes and textiles are synonymous with survival and are certainly no strangers to disaster. The ninth annual New Zealand Costume and Textile Association Symposium will address this perilous theme with Hanging by a Thread: Tales of Disaster and Survival, a weekend of inspirational and thought-provoking discussions at TheNewDowse, 12-13 June. Keynote speakers are Australians Jane Wild and Hannah Barret on one of the world’s largest collections of costumes by the legendary Ballet Russes; and Dr Patricia Wallace on the survival of Maori weaving. Registrations are open to everyone.

'Maori weaving - no longer hanging by a thread’ is the theme being addressed by Dr Patricia Wallace, from the Macmillian Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at University of Canterbury, who will begin with material collected by Captain James Cook and move through to contemporary practice.  Jane Wild and Hannah Barret, from the Textile Conservation Department of the National Gallery of Australia, share the keynote role with Wallace and will discuss the challenges of conserving Ballet Russes’ costume collection; the company recently celebrated its 100^th anniversary. The conference also includes over 20 other presentations by local and international conservators, curators, researchers and other industry spokespeople. 

The theme of the conference was inspired by an article in the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly from 1969 that described the miraculous survival of a dress under the most disastrous circumstances:

“In April 1968 the interisland ferry Wahine headed into Cook Strait, loaded with passengers and freight.  Among her various items of cargo - a small brilliantly-coloured cocktail dress - lovingly packed in a suitcase. As the ferry came to its ill-fated end on Barrett’s Reef, the suitcase and dress were abandoned as its owner fled to safety on the last lifeboat. Months later “out of the fuel oil, the slimy silt and rust of the Wahine’s hold”, the dress was rescued and restored to its former glory - its miraculous recovery attributed to the survivalist properties of pure wool. To the promoters of wool this story was not only of the survival of a woman and her favourite party dress, but ammunition for an industry fighting to survive the synthetic revolution and willing to exploit every promotional opportunity at its disposal, even a national disaster”.  Claire Regnault, Concept Developer, TheNewDowse

Registrations and programme details are on www.newdowse.org.nz

ENDS

Hanging by a Thread:                                                                                                                   Tales of Disaster and Survival                                                                                                    The 9th annual New Zealand Costume & Textile Association Symposium

 TheNewDowse  | 12- 13 June  2010                                                       www.newdowse.org.nz

Media enquiries and images:
Rachel Healy                                                                                                           Communications Advisor
T +64 4 560 1477 | 027 687 4226
E rachel.healy@huttcity.govt.nz