National Museum of Costume facts for kids
Shambellie House Museum of Costume
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| Established | 1982 |
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| Dissolved | 2013 |
| Location | New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland |
The National Museum of Costume was a special place in New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It was part of the National Museums of Scotland. This museum opened in 1982.
It showed how people dressed and lived from the 1850s to the 1950s. The clothes were displayed in rooms that looked like real homes. Sadly, in January 2013, National Museums Scotland announced that the museum would close and not open again that year.
Contents
Building the Museum's Home
Shambellie House, where the museum was located, is a beautiful Victorian country house. A Scottish architect named David Bryce designed it in 1856 for the Stewart family.
In 1976, Charles W. Stewart gave his amazing collection of costumes to the Royal Scottish Museum. He also gave Shambellie House to the Department of the Environment. This allowed the house to become the National Museum of Costume.
Exploring the Rooms
Each room in Shambellie House showed clothes from different time periods and for different events. You could also see portraits of the Stewart family around the house.
Dining Room: A Summer Party
The dining room showed a scene from a summer evening party in 1895. You could imagine the family getting ready to welcome guests. The lady and gentleman of the house wore fancy evening clothes. A cold meal was already set out, and the butler was getting glasses ready.
Some special items included beautiful evening dresses and even a black satin mourning dress. In Victorian times, there were strict rules for what to wear when someone had passed away. The room also featured old furniture and paintings, like a rosewood sideboard from the 1890s.
Drawing Room: War News
The drawing room showed a scene from May 1945. Family members and a visitor were listening to the radio for news about World War II. The room had 19th-century furniture, a tea set, and a gramophone from the 1920s. There was also a portrait of Queen Victoria.
During the war, there wasn't much fabric available. So, the "Utility Scheme" started in 1941. This meant all clothes had to have a special CC41 symbol. This symbol showed they used only a certain amount of fabric. The idea was to save materials for the war effort. The hostess in the display wore a dress with this special label. People were also encouraged to "Make Do and Mend," which meant fixing old clothes or making new ones from old fabric. For example, a child's dress on display was made from an adult's old clothing.
Library: New Year's Eve
The library showed a scene from New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) in 1952. A family was getting ready to go to a special ball. You could see lovely 1950s evening dresses, including a daughter's dress made of black lace with sequins and beads.
Paintings of the Stewart family hung on the walls. One painting over the fireplace was of Captain William Stewart from about 1913.
Hall: First Impressions
The hall of a house was very important. It was the first thing visitors saw and it showed how important and wealthy the owner was. Guests would wait in the hall, looking at the paintings and furniture.
In the hall of Shambellie House, there was a tall grandfather clock from the mid-1800s. There was also a long bench that used to be in another museum. Photographs of William Stewart, who built the house, and his family were also displayed.
Upstairs Landing: Keeping Things Tidy
The linen cupboard on the upstairs landing showed the museum's collection of household linens and lavender bags. In the past, there were strict rules for how to handle linen. Items were often marked for specific rooms, and there were exact schedules for changing beds and towels.
Laundry was a huge job, usually done once a week. People from the village would come to help with the heavy work of washing, drying, and ironing. Fine clothes were washed separately. Curtains and other furnishings were often changed between winter and summer. The unused sets were cleaned and stored in cupboards like these. Lavender bags were used to make linens smell nice and keep moths away.
Bedroom: Celebrating the End of War
This room showed a scene from September 1945. An older woman and her granddaughter were getting ready for a local ball. They were celebrating the end of British military action in the Far East. Even though the war in Europe ended in May 1945, many families had to wait until autumn for their loved ones to come home.
The grandmother wore a black satin evening dress from the 1940s. New long dresses were hard to find during the war, so her dress might have been changed from an older one. Even wealthy people had to "Make do and Mend" during the war. The granddaughter's red velvet dress from 1943 was also made from adult clothing.
The room also had old beauty items, like brushes and bottles from 1932, and a hairdryer from the 1930s.
Playroom: Fun and Learning
The playroom showed an early evening in August 1913. A nanny was looking after the newest baby in the family. Toys, clothes, and baby items were all around the room. A beautiful wooden rocking horse was in the center.
The mother in the scene wore a fancy day dress from around 1910. The little boy wore a traditional white summer sailor suit. These suits became popular after Prince Edward wore one for a portrait in 1846. They were a popular outfit for boys for many years.
You could also see a high chair, a baby carriage, and a wheeled baby chair. Samplers, which are embroidered pieces of cloth, were displayed on the walls. Young girls would make these to practice their sewing skills.
Room with a View: Fancy Dress
This room used to be a bedroom but was left open so visitors could enjoy the amazing views. You could see why this spot was chosen for the house! From one window, you could see the ruins of Sweetheart Abbey. On a clear day, you could even see the hills of Cumbria in the distance. From another window, you could see Criffel, a mountain that stands out in the area.
In the next rooms, you could see parts of Charles Stewart's collection that didn't fit into the other themed rooms. The theme here was "fancy dress." Fancy dress parties were very popular in Victorian times. You could see costumes like an "18th-century Venetian woman" outfit and a Pierrot costume.
Bathroom: Morning Routine
The bathroom showed an early morning scene in November 1905. A beautiful Paisley shawl was draped over a towel rail. These shawls were very fashionable until about 1870. By 1905, they might still be used to keep warm in a chilly country house bathroom.
The lady in the scene wore a lovely embroidered cotton nightgown. She had rolled her hair in strips of cotton the night before to make it curly. This was a common way to get curls back then. The room also had an old bidet from the late 1700s.
Sitting Room: Home Life
The sitting room showed a late summer afternoon in 1882. In Victorian times, the home was seen as a peaceful place away from the busy world. Women were expected to make the home cozy and comfortable. They managed servants, budgets, and planned meals. Hobbies like sewing, embroidery, painting, reading, and playing music were popular.
This room featured four figures wearing clothes from the 1870s and early 1880s. People's fashion choices depended on their taste, money, and age. This period saw big changes in how dresses looked, especially with the "bustle style." A bustle was a special underwear that made the back of a dress look bigger and more shaped.
One purple silk dress showed how new technologies were changing fashion. In the 1850s, the first man-made dyes were invented, and purple was one of the first colors. A grey silk dress on display was worn by a Scottish bride in 1873. It was common then to wear colored, formal day clothes for weddings, not just white.
How Fashion Changed Over Time
Fashion has changed a lot over the years! The clothes people wear today are very different from what was popular from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s.
Fashion from 1850 to 1900
The 1850s were famous for crinolines. These were cage-like structures made of whalebone that made skirts very wide. They were covered with many layers of petticoats. Dresses were made from rich fabrics like silk and velvet. Day dresses were usually dark, while evening dresses were often white. Dresses with flower prints, stripes, and wide sleeves were also popular.
Later, crinolines went out of style, and women started wearing skirts over the crinoline frames. Colors also changed to warmer tones like brown and dark red.
In the late 1860s, crinolines disappeared completely. In the 1870s, bustles became fashionable. A bustle was worn under petticoats at the back, making the dresses have fancy folds there. These dresses often had bodices (the top part) that fastened in the front and shaped the body.
In the 1880s, the "princess line" became popular. This was a dress style where the bodice and skirt were made in one piece, without a seam at the waist. Sleeves became close-fitting again, and evening dresses often had short puffed sleeves. Dresses made of two different fabrics and colors were also common. Colors like white, blue, and pink were used, but in the 1880s, colors became brighter.
Fashion from 1900 to 1950
Big events like the Second Boer War (1899–1902), World War I (1914–1918), and World War II (1939–1945) greatly influenced fashion in the first half of the 20th century.
At the start of the 1900s, wide skirts were replaced by a slimmer, "sheath" shape. The first hobble skirts appeared. These were very tight and often made it hard to walk, as they narrowed below the knee. This style lasted about five years, ending when World War I began in 1914.
The Second Boer War also affected fashion, influencing colors and designs. For example, you might see khaki hats or blouses with red details, or yellow skirts. These colors were inspired by traditional African clothing.
The Edwardian period (1901–1910) brought new styles for women's coats. Long capes with wide collars were common. Later, coats started to look like men's morning coats. By 1909, the "Russian" coat, with a belt and embroidered edges, became popular.
World War I changed fashion even more. Between 1913 and 1916, the brassiere (bra) was introduced. Skirts became wider and shorter from 1915 onwards. Jackets and coats were influenced by army uniforms. By 1918, the waist and chest were less important in fashion, and the middle of the body became the focus.
After the war, some styles went back to how they were in 1913, with longer skirts and the return of the hobble skirt. Tight, tube-like dresses were also worn, which meant less bulky underwear.
From 1920 to 1930, fashion focused on looking youthful. This was partly because so many young men had died in the war, leading to a celebration of youth. As the economy improved around 1925, women's clothes became more feminine, especially evening wear, but the youthful look was still important. Skirts started to have flares and ruffles. They had been very short, but from 1928, they became longer.
The zip fastener also became important. First used by the U.S. Navy, it appeared in Britain in 1925.
The Great Depression brought another change, returning to a more traditionally feminine look. Waistlines were higher, and skirts became longer. Clothes were cut in more complex ways, creating a more elegant shape.
Royal events in the 1930s also influenced fashion. For example, the wedding of the Duke of Kent in 1934 and the coronations of King George V and King George VI inspired new hat styles and colors like "Jubilee blue" and "Royal purple."
During World War II, women's wardrobes became very simple. In 1942, "utility" clothes were introduced. These were standard suits, dresses, and coats designed by a committee. Their prices were controlled, and they all had a special double crescent label. The idea was to create a similar style for everyone, though manufacturers still managed to make them a bit different.
After the war, women wanted to move away from uniforms and wear longer skirts and clothes that showed off their curves. Traditional materials came back, and new synthetic fabrics and plastics appeared in 1946. Christian Dior created the "New Look" in France, which featured very full skirts and a tiny waist, but it wasn't fully accepted in Britain right away.
In 1949, another big change happened. Skirts became shorter, about thirteen inches from the ground. Their shape was a mix between wide and slim. Many women had worn trousers during the war, and now they started choosing to wear them for everyday life.
Along with other new materials, nylon also appeared in 1946. After the war, people could get nylon from old R.A.F. parachutes. They used this nylon to make blouses, underwear, children's clothes, curtains, and many other things.
Museum Closure
Because of money problems, National Museums Scotland announced in January 2013 that the National Museum of Costume would close down.
