C&TA Exhibition 2024

Welcome to the C&TA 35th Year Anniversary Exhibition

Held at The Forum, Norwich 13th-21st April 2024 the exhibition included displays of costumes and textiles, Victorian Norwich Shawls, award-winning research, contemporary designs by fashion and textile design students, C&TA members' textile art, as well as digital projections of Norwich shawls and illustrated historic fashions ...

Click on the pictures below for information

Video Projections on the big screens

Watch short videos on our C&TA YouTube channel: @costumeandtextileassociation

Click on picture to link to our C&TA YouTube channel.

Norwich Shawls

In the mid-nineteenth century, Norwich was at the centre of excellence for manufacturing luxurious silk and woollen shawls. The C&TA will be presenting this rare Norwich Shawl to the Norfolk Museums costume and textile collection during the exhibition. The Norfolk Museums Service has a collection of nearly 200 Norwich Shawls, dating from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century. The C&TA will also be providing funding for the Norwich Shawl collection to be professionally photographed to create a digital archive of this nationally important collection.

This beautiful red and cream shawl made by Towler, Rowling & Allen of Elm Hill (1869 -1870) has royal connections. Queen Victoria visited Norwich in 1869 and was given a shawl in this design on behalf of the City. Royal designs were unique. This is possibly a prototype of the shawl that was presented to Her Majesty. The shawl measures 334 x 158 cms with a half red, half cream centre. Each end is decorated with a deep ornate ‘pine’ motif design and fringing. The half-colour design enabled the shawl to be worn with either colour uppermost over the wide crinoline skirts that were fashionable during this period.

C&TA Resource Collection

Over the past 35 years, the Costume and Textile Association has acquired its own independent collection of costume, accessories and textiles. Much of this collection has been donated by members and friends passing on favourite but no longer wanted pieces from their own wardrobes. The C&TA Resource Collection of costumes and accessories is not of museum quality; it is available for the Association's exhibitions, workshops and vintage fashion shows which raise funds and aid research.

PLEASE NOTE: The C&TA Resource Collection is not the same as the Norfolk Museums Service's (NMS) collection of more than 32,000 items British clothing, accessories, needlecrafts and home furnishings dating from the 18th century to the present day, held by the Museum Costume and Textile department.

C&TA Members' Displays

The C&TA has many highly skilled and creative members, experts and beginners, these exhibits represent some of their textile work.

During the covid lockdowns, many C&TA members took up their
needles and sewing machines. Like many, I had time to rediscover the
joys of sewing again. The collage, inspired by Henri Rousseau’s 1891
oil painting Surprised! (Tiger in a Tropical Storm), in the National
Gallery, was a long unfinished project which took on a new
significance in uncertain times.
Through the C&TA, I discovered the tradition of women wearing pockets,
before handbags became the norm. These pockets were often beautifully
embroidered and treasured pieces of a woman’s wardrobe, keeping their
most precious possessions safe. I made several and find them very
handy to use while crafting. The hand-embroidered piece is a personal
representation of my life in lockdown; the swallows represent hope.
The sea-inspired machine-embroideries (Crashing Waves and the
waistcoat) are earlier pieces. They seem appropriate to show as part of
the C&TA’s Coral Anniversary celebrations.
Caroline Whiting, C&TA Chair

GSMB Award Winners' Displays

Thanks to a generous legacy to the Costume & Textile Association (C&TA) from the estate of the late Geoffrey Squire (1924 - 2011), the renown costume and textile historian and theatre designer, the C&TA is able to offer biennial bursaries for academic, practical costume and textile research in his memory. So far, six talented researchers have received GSMB Awards between 2017 - 2023.

Norwich University of the Arts Students - Award Winners' Displays

The C&TA sponsors two annual design awards for Norwich University of the Arts students: the C&TA Award for 1st Year BA (Hons) Fashion students and the Helen Hoyte Award for 2nd Year BA (Hons) Textile students.

1st Year BA (Hons) Fashion Students

1st: Irosha Croos, 2nd: Dani Tabios, 3rd: Jenna Coote. Highly commended: Alice Foster / Eve Hipkin / Sara Rayner / Stella Shykolenko / Stephanie Woodbridge

2nd Year BA (Hons) Textiles Students

1st: Nina Lones, 2nd: Esther Wildsmith, 3rd: Megan Merhar. Highly commended: Millie Anderson / Chloe Hodgkinson / Gabija Mosteikyte / Alice Page / Lily-Rose Woodhouse

C&TA Textiles - Creations and Recreations

Suffragette / Lorina Stitchings / Elizabeth I

East Anglia Textiles

Humphries Weaving

C&TA Publications

The C&TA publishes several books on historic Norwich textiles, as well as delightful cards and notelets. These are available to buy on our website. Click on the image to visit our online shop. Members receive discounts on books.

Miscellany, our annual members' journal is packed with fascinating articles and information about costume, textiles and textile history. Click the image to link to back copies which can be accessed for free on our website.

Thank you for visiting our 35th Anniversary Exhibition,
and to everyone who has helped to create and run it.