Steampunk Exhibition at Mill Shop

We try to put on exhibitions of special interest at Audlem Mill, and this time we feel really honoured to have something rather spectacular.

Audlem based theatrical costumier Monique Hollinshead has created half a dozen stunning Steampunk influenced costumes, included a canal boatman and boatwoman.

They will be on show at Audlem Mill throughout the Festival and until 11th June.

Monique says: "Steampunk is a style of fashion, culture, architecture, literature and even music that features retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th Century might have envisaged them. "British steampunk borrows the best bits from the old British Empire: high tea, gentlemanly conduct and good manners, with the occasional duel! "

"As a punk in my youth the flamboyant dressing up element of Steampunk gatherings has a tribal slant not far away from the harsher on the eye sensibility of punk rock. Being a costumier trained in historical cutting techniques, there is the chance to replicate items such as authentically cut corsets and bustle underpinnings".

"The craftsmanship and care taken in choosing apparel and accessories and putting a whole outfit together, harks back to a time when people had their own dressmaker and routinely trimmed their own hats."

"The magpie repurposing of objects from tea strainers to nerf guns, from skateboard knee pads to old umbrellas and their incorporation in an original costume is satisfyingly creative." "The costumes are based on real or imagined characters so each one has its own "personality".

"Perhaps the most challenging is the creation of a late 1800s canal boater couple using sources that identify the clothing unique to that particular group of people. The late use of split falls in the men's trouser and the distinctive boat woman bonnet are featured but then the imagination takes over......."

Audlem Mill is open seven days a week from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

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