Your cart is currently empty!
Our Leading Ladies project is recreating two historic outfits depicted in portraits in the collection at Inveraray Castle.
The two portraits are of Lady Charlotte Campbell (1775-1861), daughter of the 5th duke of Argyll, depicted as ‘Aurora’ by John Hoppner and of ‘Mrs Mary Campbell’ (as the portrait is inscribed), who was the Hon. Mary Bellenden (c.1685-1736), wife of John Campbell of Mamore who later became the 4th duke of Argyll.
The two frocks are very different: Lady Charlotte wears a diaphanous, neoclassical gown which may never have existed, although there are features of an Indian muslin ‘robe-en-chemise’ of the 1790s. The Lady Charlotte gown will therefore be a new creation as much as a re-creation, giving form to an image which may only have existed in the mind of the artist.
Mary Bellenden is painted wearing a magnificent, fur-trimmed bodice and petticoat (skirt). These luxurious garments are real items of clothing. However, from research, we have discovered that they are a seventeenth-century idea of what Mary, Queen of Scots would have worn.
These garments will be entirely handsewn using period correct techniques and they are being recreated in public with Flora, our historic seamstress, sitting alongside the portraits. Flora is engaging with visitors to discuss the project, the designs, textiles, construction and techniques required to make them. Visitors can watch, ask questions and handle samples of the textiles being used.
The two garments reflect a particularly interesting period in ladies’ fashion, as fashions moved from the constrictive corsets of the mid-eighteenth century to the relative freedom of neoclassical styles in the early-nineteenth century. Mary Bellenden’s outfit is elaborate and structured. Lady Charlotte Campbell’s flowing muslin dress depicts the ‘short-waist’, a style closely associated with Charlotte in the 1790s.
Research in the Castle archives will provide information about textiles and garments, where and how they were sourced and the costs, and tailors, merchants and global trade in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Scotland. We also expect to uncover biographical information about Mary Bellenden and Lady Charlotte, the artists and their commissions.
We are inviting local school and community groups to get involved in the project, offering workshops with Flora and the opportunity to handle textiles and, where appropriate, do some sewing, as well as to see documents from the archives. If you want to participate in a workshop, please contact archives@inveraray-castle.com.
The recreated pieces will help to bring the portraits to life and will also raise the profile of female family members, helping to redress the traditional focus on earls, dukes and their male successors.
We are very grateful to Historic Houses and Dr. Robert Graham Fountain Family Scholarships for funding this project.
