Patricia Forsyth wore this pale pink confection in 1944, aged twenty, with a pale pink self-striped slip and knickers.

This delicate garment has a Peter Pan collar, which was named after the collar of Maude Adams’s costume in her 1905 role as Peter Pan. The dress has hand-made buttons with a flower cross-stitch motif, that also appears on the hem of the full-circle skirt and on the stiffened cummerbund.

Patricia apparently hated it, perhaps because it was very girlish for someone of her age. The collar has been associated with children’s clothing since the 1920s. The colour was obviously not an issue: her pink matching halter-neck dress and jacket, which she wore onboard ship to England in 1953, was a previous Outfit of the Month.

Her mother, Alice Free, made this dress. Alice married Captain Cuthbert Free in 1921 in Columbo Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Patricia was born in Quetta, Bengal, India (now part of Pakistan) where her father was stationed in the Army. He was part of the 10th Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides Cavalry.

Patricia married David Forsyth four years after wearing this dress and they had two children. She inherited the historic house ‘Beccles’ in Bulls from her godmother, Pattie Levett in 1970, where she lived until 1998, when she generously donated this dress to the museum.

Patricia moved to Waiheke Island and lived there until she died in 2020, at the age of 95.

By Dr Bronwyn Labrum, Pou Ārahi/Director at Whanganui Regional Museum.

Dress, 1944
Made from cotton organdie
Made by Alice Free
Gift of Patricia Forsyth, 1998
WRM 1998.45.11
Photographed by Kathy Greensides

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