In this week's blog, Costume Society Ambassador Holly Siddle reviews the exhibition Oh Boy! Boys’ Dress 1760-1930 at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.
A joint collaboration between collector Alasdair Peebles and fashion historian Amy De La Haye, Oh Boy! at the Fashion and Textile Museum is the first exhibition devoted to historical boy’s dress, examining the subject through the eyes of a collector. Act I of the exhibition, Breeched: No More Dresses, runs from 29th September 2023 to 16th December 2023, exploring the breeching ceremony of young boys. Act II, Ship Shape, commences on the 21st December 2023 until 3rd March 2024, which will look at nautical wear dating from 1860-1930.
Drawing from the personal collection of Alasdair Peebles, Oh Boy! runs alongside The Fabric of Democracy exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. Embellished with a decorative set, including hand made props and a painted backdrop, the exhibition looks into an under-explored and under-researched area of fashion history: children’s clothes - specifically, boy’s clothes.
The first phase of this exhibition, Breeched, explores the adoption of knee length breeches, which would take place when a boy was between the ages of three and six. This symbolic process phased them out of infant dresses into breeches, marking their development.
“I personally view the breeching ceremony as symbolically (artificially) reinforcing the leaving behind of the predominantly female space of the nursery and entering a domain where the expectations of adult masculinity must be encountered and absorbed,” says collection owner Alasdair Peebles. Part of this transition, for example is the adoption of an item of clothing called a ‘skeleton suit’.
“The skeleton suit first appears in the 1780’s and was only worn by boys. It is a ‘transitional’ garment, worn by a newly breeched boy before he acquires a three-piece suit. It consisted of a very short jacket and high cut trousers which buttoned onto the jacket” explains Peebles. “One of the highlights of [Act I] is a sumptuous, tiny skeleton suit of fine cream wool decorated with elaborate gold metal braid in the military, hussar style. Although acquired in Britain it is distinctively French and probably dates to the years just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.”
A strikingly unique feature of the exhibition is the beautiful ‘mis en scene’ landscape setting in which the clothes are presented. Utilising his background in decorative painting, Peebles has skilfully presented his collection alongside an atmospheric painted backdrop.
“I knew very early on that I wanted to restrict the colour palette. I am a decorative painter for historic interiors and have always had a great affection for these ‘grisaille’ schemes. I also knew that I wanted the ‘mis en scene’ or ‘tableaux’ to suggest movement and give an impression of ‘levity’.” Continuing this theme, Peebles created props such as kites to flesh out the scene and bring the clothes, and the people who wore them, to life. “In the 18th Century, portraits boys are frequently depicted with kites and I liked the notion that the props in a display might have as much presence and personality as the fashion objects that are the purported focus.” explains Peebles.
Act I of the exhibition also includes modern photography and ephemera. “The exhibition is important for very many reasons: it is the first time that I have publicly exhibited objects from my collection in a more carefully crafted display. For the Fashion and Textile Museum I wanted to take a slice through the collection by focusing on a theme.”
The second phase of the exhibition, Ship Shape, is now available to visit at the Fashion and Textile Museum, and runs from 21st December 2023 until the 3rd March 2024. Tickets are available to book online.
Holly recently visited the Fabric of Democracy exhibition, currently running alongside Oh Boy!. You can read her review on our blog here.
