It might be all about silver sequins and sparkles now, but have you ever wondered how people used to dress up for Christmas throughout history? Or, better still, have you ever imagined what some iconic pieces of festive fashion history might look like? Here are five amazing festive finds from the V&A museum collection that are real items from history – you’ll have never seen anything like some of these!
Christmas cake dress
This iconic Christmas cake dress was made back in 1929 (which it actually says on the cake: “Happy Xmas 1929”) – that’s almost 100 years ago! It is made from an ivory coloured satin, and a round skirt held up by wooden hoops and features small figures of Santa Claus, robins, and sprigs of holly. It is thought to be a child’s fancy dress and was acquired by the V&A museum in 1984 to be kept safe and displayed to the public. Would you wear this cake dress?!
Evening dress with a story…
Before being given to V&A museum in 2022, this pretty floral evening dress was owned by Mrs Cartwrght (ne Borgmann) who bought it from Heelas Department Store in 1937. She was originally born in Germany and moved to Bradfield in England with her new husband, Mr. Cartwright who had a job at the local college. The dress was bought to be worn at one of the black tie dinner parties hosted by the college for employees and their wives to attend. Apparently, Mrs Cartwright continued to wear the dress for the family’s traditional German Christmas Eve for some years until it was given to her daughter Erika in 1972. What a journey this dress has had!
Rock and Pop outfit worn by famous 1980s band
This Rock and Pop costume was a special outfit made and worn for the Prince Charming Revue show at the Dominion Theatre in London in 1981. The outfit was worn by Adam Ant – who was a member of Adam and the Ants – a pop-rock glam 1980s band with lots of successful songs and number one hits. The outfit was made from a cream wool regency-style tailcoat, tapestry collar and a silver lurex – all paired with a regency-style shirt with black stripes. Very cool!
Christmas window dress
This sparkly gold and red dress was made especially for the window display at Liberty, which is a famous department store in central London. It was made in 1995 so whilst the print is modern, it was inspired by Medieval and Renaissance clothing. The sparkly section of the dress was created entirely from beading inspired by Uzbekistani – a country in central asia. Very Medieval-core!
Edward Scissorhands inspired Christmas dress
This dress is the outfit made by Minju Kim who won the first TV series competition, Next in Fashion, in 2021. This icy looking dress was made around the story of Edward Scissorhands, imagining him having his first Christmas, combining a fairy-tale silhouette and a playful pattern of tiny cut-out garlands of Korean moon jars – paying homage to where Minju is from. Gorgeous!
