20th Century History

Exhibition Review: Mary Quant at the V&A Surprises, Bright Colours and Unapologetic Mass Production All The Way

“There she is!” says a woman entering the V&A Mary Quant exhibit to her friend. Tucked behind the V&A’s permanent costume collection they’ve patiently queued for the moment they can enter. On until the 15th February the exhibition is short of time, but it’s a colourful and comprehensive run-through of Quant brands between 1955 and […]

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Before the Xmas Sweater: Christmas Fashion and Happy Hull-idays Past

December’s big holiday is full of family, friends and Christmas cheer. Traditionally an occasion to dress up we look back on style from the years Mirelle was around. Pour something warm and take a trip down memory lane, here’s our retrospective of fashions from those years. Ah how lovely! This scene conjurs up the scent […]

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HouseofMirelle.uk a Frank Usher late 1960s Maxi Dress

Fashion History: Researching the House of Mirelle Clothing Collection – A Frank Usher Late 1960s Dress

The House of Mirelle was a fashion house with taste. Over the 40 years it was open customers bought a glittering array of clothes, hats and shoes from some of the most well known labels of the time. The list of what was sold at Mirelle is a roll-call of some of the most famous […]

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Uniform Exhibit D Day Museum Southsea houseofmirelle.uk

20th Century History | History of Sewing Dressmaking and Tailoring | Modern History | Photographs | Social History

75 Years Since the D-Day Landings – We Remember the Legacy of WW2 Today

Southsea, Portsmouth was no different from anywhere else in the country in what it endured during World War 2 but was extraordinary for its role in the D Day landings to liberate Europe from the Nazis. On the shoreline of Southsea beach is the D Day Story, commemorating the role of the Landings that took […]

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Picture of Jameson Street towards British Home Stores Old Hull

S.O.S. Give Your Memories Of Hull’s Co-Op BHS and 3 Ships Mural to SAVE OUR SHIPS!

As a child Esther’s father told his daughter stories of the deep sea waters he fished in and the rise and fall of the city of Hull that was their home. Sipping cafe drinks they sat in front of a building so large its front curved all the way left and all the way […]

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If Walls Could Talk – 114 Coltman Street Tells Us The Story of Hull’s Charitable Past

Coltman Street runs at right angles from Hull’s Hessle Road up to the other running west from the city centre, Anlaby Road. In days past Hessle Road thrived, fuelled by shipping and fishing in the UK’s third port but the Cod Wars of the 1960s and 70s ran the area to ground, town planning eventually taking […]

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Bunty Annual 1969 Interest in Dressmaking Would Do Better houseofmirelle.uk

1969 Bunty Annual: The Story of Dressmaking and Sewing In the Classroom

Bunty was a teen comic grabbed from shelves in the local newsagents between 1958 and 2001. Pages were full of fictional stories for youngsters aged 14 years old and under. In the days before computers took over from pencil, pen and ink the comic strips were hand drawn. Girls and their friends, parents and teachers […]

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BBC Back to the factory the machinists laugh at the pink slips

Review: BBC2s Back In Time for the Factory Returns To Womens Working Life in 1968

11 or so ladies walk towards the doors of Valley West wearing an impressive array of 1960s fashions and expectant smiles. They are stepping back in time to experience what working life was like for garment factory workers, ladies who sat at industrial sewing machines for 8 hours at a stretch churning out clothing for […]

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20th Century History | Hull Retail History | Kingston Upon Hull History

Historic Hammonds, Hull’s Iconic Department Store

Hammonds, Hull’s iconic department store sails like a great ocean liner on Paragon Square. It greets shoppers and visitors as soon as they arrive at Paragon Station, saying ‘come in here.’ Carl Hammond established his drapery store – selling cloth and individual items – in 1821. Then the city of Hull was very different from […]

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A black and white traditional diagram and illustration of a Singer treadle sewing machine E 5453 with parts labelled.

Oral History: Witness2Fashion’s Memory Of Using Treadle Sewing Machines

Recently we’ve been chatting to the person behind the fantastic blog Witness2Fashion about all things ‘treadle sewing machine.’ Based in California you might expect a difference between the UK / Hull Yorkshire but I was struck by how similar they were. Treadles have the same charm wherever you were in the world when you sat and […]

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A 1950s illustration of a woman with short blonde hair, elbow length gloves and a short necklace walking from left to right along a catwalk. She is wearing a black strapless evening gown with full and flowing black skirt. The bodice and side panel is covered in gold rhinestones. She is carrying a gold clutch bag.

Fashion Illustration: Watch The Film Drawing The 1940s to 1950s House Of Mirelle Evening Gown

Between circa 1949 and 1952 a black evening gown was sold at The House of Mirelle, a UK fashion house based in Hull. It was the golden age of fashion illustration when artists interpreted designs which were published in magazines, journals and newspapers. Watch our film to see how an artist might have illustrated the […]

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The December 1973 cover of Illustrated London News showing the wedding dress of Princess Anne when she married Captain Mark Phillips.

Hull History: May 1975 Princess Anne’s Modern Wedding Dress Designed By Maureen Baker Comes To Hull

Everyone loves a royal wedding but did you know Princess Anne’s has a special connection to Hull….. The wedding of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips The marriage of Princess Anne on 14th November 1973 to Captain Mark Phillips was an occasion celebrated by the entire nation. Norman Hartnell The big surprise was that Princess […]

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Hull Social History: 3 Day Millionaires DVD by Dr Alec Gill

“My Dad was a skipper on the trawlers and if he’d had a good catch, he’d take Mum out and spend the money on her,” said Lynn. “Oh! A 3 Day Millionaire,” I said. “A what?” came the reply. “3 Day Millionaire,” I said. When there was no response from the other side, “um. When […]

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A black and white photo taken in 1968. A group of women walk purposefully along a street in Hull. They are all wearing coats and head scarves. At the front is Lillian Bilocca, the person leading the protest. Next to her is a policeman.

Social History 1968 to 1969: The Headscarf Protest, Fashion Inertia and The Years Of Change

The Headscarf Revolutionaries by Brian Lavery had been on the must-read list since the early days researching the House of Mirelle. From information about Hull’s Headscarf Protest I turned to the history of the fishing industry and the Cod Wars. Lavery’s book sketched in the details in a work of such imagination and feeling, history came […]

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Social History: The Orphaned Singer Sewing Machine, Sewing Workrooms and The Culture Of Sewing Book

This week Harvard’s online Magazine published an article about a treadle sewing machine. The title was An Orphaned Sewing Machine and it was written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The link’s there if you’d like to read it. Ulrich and her colleague Ivan Gaskell were given an old Singer treadle sewing machine as a means of teaching […]

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A colour photo showing the bodice of a silver and tan tight fitting halter neck gown displayed on a mannequin. The image is copyright Carrie Henderson.

Donating Vintage Fashion: The House of Mirelle, Doree Leventhal and Robita Couture

This month has seen a couple of additions to the House of Mirelle collection. Both are eye catching, stunning examples of vintage fashion at its very best! The first is a gorgeous midnight blue dress which revealed the most surprising addition: a boned corset / bustier built into the bodice section lining. “How ingenious,” I […]

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A colour photo of a newspaper article titled Mystery of Hull wedding dress found in Australia. The article talks about a fifties frock that ended up in a charity shop in Perth, but do you know its owner?

Perth Australia House Of Mirelle Wedding Dress

Listen to the interview on BBC Radio Humberside breakfast show here – click on ‘listen in browser’ if you do not have SoundCloud: Do you recognise this wedding dress? Throughout the youth-quake of the 1950s Hull newspapers ran adverts selling tickets to emigrate to Australia; the cost of the ticket to this brand new life […]

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Fashion History: Marjorie Field, Fashion Flats, Fashion Illustration and The House of Mirelle

One enjoyable aspect to having fashionable conversations is the associations it brings… They can be personal – recollecting the occasion an outfit was worn at, historical – what was happening in the world at the time or creative and cultural – what it said about the fashion industry, for instance. A few weeks ago, having a […]

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Hull Fashion History: The Art Of Illustration – 100 Years of Fashion Advertising 1859 – 1960

This advert for Edwin Davis in the Hull Packet newspaper of summer 1859 is barely recognisable in comparison with fashion advertising we know today. In today’s world, glossy magazines and TV adverts are part of a global industry with an estimated worth of over 3 trillon dollars. In this high stakes, highly competitive market it is […]

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