Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed opens at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum on Tuesday 22 September, after a short run at Upton House in Poole on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20. It's an exhibition of wedding dresses spanning 150 years, curated by Arts University Bournemouth costume archive technician Victoria Adams, who's drawn from the university's own costume archive to chart how bridal fashion changed from the mid-19th century through to the 1980s.

It's not just about the dresses themselves, though. The collection is as much about the women who wore them as the gowns they wore. Many of the pieces were donated by the daughters or friends of the original brides, and they've come with personal stories, photographs and family histories. Seeing a dress alongside the story of the person who actually wore it changes the whole thing — it turns a piece of clothing into a glimpse of a real life.

There are a few standouts worth looking for. One is a silk dress from 1834 that was worn by three generations of women, which is a lovely bit of family history to see in the flesh. There are wartime gowns from the 1930s and 1940s, a pink organdie tea-length dress from 1956, and a 1983 taffeta ballgown inspired by Princess Diana. The exhibition guide was written by students, each of whom followed a research pathway inspired by one of the dresses, so the writing you'll find there comes from that same place of looking closely at a single gown and working outwards from it.

After its two days at Upton House, the show moves to the Russell-Cotes on the Bournemouth seafront, where it runs from Tuesday 22 September until Sunday 8 November. If you're around the seafront over the next few weeks, it's a good one to drop into.