Following its successful showing at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Fashion & Fancy Dress: The Messel Family Dress Collection moves to the Millenium Galleries, Sheffield.

The exhibition, on display between 14 June - 23 September 2007 presents the fashionable, yet unusual dress worn and preserved by six generations of women from the Sambourne-Messel-Rosse family. Through the generations, the family take us on a journey to London, Sussex , Ireland and to China, but the Sambourne family originated in Sheffield, building Sambourne Square to the north-west of the city in about 1800.

The Messel Dress Collection comprises over 500 items of dress; many of its highlights are displayed in this exhibition, including garments not shown at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. These fascinating clothes are arranged thematically; exhibits include luxurious couture dress, ready-made items, home-made and customised garments and fancy dress.

Surviving clothes reveal that the women shared a taste for distinctive, romantic styles of dress, influenced by a love of history, travel, gardening and flowers. Accompanied by letters, photographs and scrapbooks from family archives, this exhibition reveals how treasured garments represent family memory and heritage. They also highlight how personal aspirations can be reflected through fashion and style.

An accompanying book, ‘A Family of Fashion’ is available in the Exhibition Shop, priced £17.50

Fashion & Fancy Dress: The Messel Family Dress Collection 1865-2005 is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Regional Museums Initiative, Brighton & Hove City Council and the Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust.