Bedazzled

Bedazzled, the new exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, looks at the lasting appeal of beaded and sequinned dresses through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

Old and new(ish) on display together

Some of the pieces were previously in the Shimmer and Shine exhibition at the Walker, but here they are displayed alongside newer additions to NML's costume archive; items originally owned by local businesswoman Leila Potter. Many of these are from the 1980s and 1990s, but some are almost contemporary.

Sequinned evening coat, 2021-22

The great joy for me is that none of the garments are behind glass, so it is possible to see (and photograph) them without reflections. This 1930 cape, for example, was impossible to study properly in Shimmer and Shine but here it is able to, well, shine.

Sequinned cape and velvet dress

Detail

These two 1920s dresses are displayed with a beaded dress hemline section which was sold ready to be made up into a dress, but never used.

Complete dresses, and a piece for a dressmaker

Early and late twentieth century pieces are displayed side by side.

1980s and 1920s

The notes for the c1925 evening dress on the left point out that the all-over design of glass beads would make it both very heavy and difficult to sit down in. The 1990-2000 jacket on the right, while less densely decorated, was doubtless more comfortable to wear.

Opulence v comfort

Unlike me, Mrs Potter clearly loved pink. Despite not liking the colour, I did admire the way the beading on this dress used large pearls to create a faux collar.

There is no separate collar on this dress

I did, however, struggle to find anything to admire in the jacket on the right. It's just not my taste at all. On the other hand, I was very impressed with whoever in NML's exhibitions team had the job of hanging all the paillettes to make the sparkly backdrops - it must have taken forever!

I did like the jacket on the left

The exhibition also includes information on how beaded clothes are made, and a small display of beaded bags and shoes.

I would love a pair of shoes with heels like these

Or any of these heels, for that matter

Going round the exhibition today I encountered several ladies, all about a decade older than me, who felt that the 1980s and later pieces should not be in a museum exhibition because they were not "old". Which was an interesting reaction. Yes, we could all remember when these clothes were the latest fashion, but plenty of other visitors could not. And surely that's the point of museums - to offer something of interest to as wide a range of people as possible?

Be dazzled at the Lady Lever

If you would like to visit and decide for yourself, Bedazzled runs until 26 January 2025.