Classic costumes join fashion week

SOVEREIGN Hill opened its costume department last Monday evening for an exclusive event as part of Virgin Australia’s Melbourne Fashion Festival.

The small group of 20 visitors explored the room behind the David Jones Criterion Store, where three people work fulltime to dress staff, volunteers and school visitors. The team creates museum standard costumes that accurately recreate diverse and multicultural fashions of 1850s Ballarat.

The group met staff, including costume department manager, Erin Santamaria, had the chance to ask questions and took a closer look at current projects, materials, techniques and the stock of menswear, tailoring, dressmaking, millinery and bonnets, and children’s wear.

Ms Santamaria grew up in Ballarat and studied an honours degree in fashion at RMIT.

She thought Sovereign Hill’s involvement with VAMFF creates different opportunities for the institution to talk with an audience about its unique fashion perspective and approach to historical authenticity.

“It’s about profile raising for the costume department and to give our interested community access to these really specialised skills and knowledge, and see the depths of academic rigour and research that sits behind Sovereign Hill,” Ms Santamaria said.

“The costume department has been running for 45 years. It’s a complex business model… the expertise of the 1850s era that was hidden behind the scenes is something to offer.

“We’re lifting the veil… facts and figures, fabrics and suppliers.”

Judy Verlin, former mayor of the City of Ballarat and current board member at Sovereign Hill, said the costume department helps define the attraction as a museum and not a tourist park.

“Without this department, Sovereign Hill would be so much poorer,” she said.

“They’re uncompromising in what they need to do.”

Recent tasks for the team have included creating adjustable, washable clothing for visitors to wear in the photographic studio, and a restock of the full set of redcoat uniforms.

“The red coat uniforms are pretty special. It’s a big project to refresh those costumes… $100,000,” Ms Santamaria said.

The cherry on top of the department’s work is to educate Sovereign Hill staff to look after their costumes and best represent the museum and themselves in the process.

“Getting dressed in a costume is so memorable and it sits with you forever,” Ms Santamaria said.