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Kay Inverarity - Royalty and Others

Historic Costume

From 4th May 2019.  Closes 26th May 2019.

Kay Inverarity is a Master Costumer in The Australian Costumers Guild.  She holds a degree in history from The Flinders University of South Australia and she has been interested in historic costume and its sociology from her early childhood.  Kay began learning about dress construction from the age of eleven, by dressing dolls in historical costume.  As she grew older this interest translated into full sized outfits.
Her goals have always been to achieve high quality garments that not only look right, but are constructed in the same way as the originals.
These garments differ from stage costume in that they are made to be seen at close range.  This means that they can be as highly detailed as the originals.  In order to achieve this accuracy Kay has done an enormous amount of research on original garment collections in England as well as Australia.  She personally owns a large collection of antique garments and fashion journals. 

Each historical garment is crafted to give the entire effect so head-wear, corsets, underwear and accessories such as shoes, bags and fans are often made by Kay to complete the fashionable look. 

Kay's love of beautiful fabrics means that she frequently makes garments that would have been worn by the upper classes.  Most are made of pure silk and fine linen.  Each ensemble is crafted in such a way that it is hoped that it would blend with other garments of the same date and status if the wearer were magically transported back in time.

Linhay Gallery is delighted to exhibit a selection of reproduction costumes form Kay’s personal collection which show fashions from 1300 to 1912. 
Picture
Queen Victoria, about 1858.
Picture
The Two Princes,
Late 1400s boys' costumes made by Kay Inverarity.