This woollen dress is made from the distinctive red, black and yellow Wallace tartan. It shows the late 1950s emphasis on femininity and formality with its revere collar and padded shoulders, three-quarter slightly puffed sleeves, and accentuated waist created by the gored, flared skirt.

The bodice has a closed, sewn centre front and folded tabs above the chest, fastened with the same gold coloured plastic buttons as the pockets. A metal zip opens at the left side waist. The original black narrow belt is missing. The manufacturer’s label has been removed but it was probably made locally. The Whanganui Woollen Mills manufactured the Wallace tartan, amongst many others.

Annie May Sergeant (born Lowe), who lived in New Plymouth, after emigrating there in 1949 from Australia, wore this dress. She was born in 1899 in Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire, England and died in in 1979. Her daughter and former Museum staff member Jean Frank donated the garment. Jean worked at the Museum from 1970 – 1988 in various roles: Artist, First Assistant and Display Artist, and Senior Assistant. The dress had a second life before it came into the collection: it featured in the Museum’s ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ Fashion Parade in February 1986.

By Trish Nugent-Lyne, Pou Tiaki/Collections & Curatorial Lead at Whanganui Regional Museum.

Dress, 1957
Made from woollen Wallace tartan with plastic buttons
Maker unknown, possibly Whanganui Woollen Mills
Gift of Jean Frank, 1987
WRM 1987.42.1
Photographed by Kathy Greensides

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