Fashion through the decades temporary exhibition

The Edwardian era is said to be an age of elegance and extravagance. But for most women it meant dresses frothed with lace and constricting corsets, hoops, and innumerable petticoats that covered, compressed and physically modified their figures. Then the First World War (1914–1918) occurred and suddenly the modern woman’s wardrobe began! In celebration of Women’s Month, the National Museum compiled a temporary exhibition on the development of women’s fashion during the twentieth century. The exhibition covered most major developments in popular fashion and displayed fashion items from the Museum’s comprehensive historic collection.