Dress Codes

What did we do?

Six museums and youth groups came together to explore the topic of ‘Dress Codes’ - examining heritage and identity by looking at traditional dress and making connections with modern fashion and popular culture today. Each group did so in a unique and creative way resulting in a varied and unexpected set of outcomes including six separate exhibitions, which toured community venues across the region.

In Nottingham young women looked at old Asian textiles, compared these to contemporary British Asians’ clothes and then developed their own designs,

At The National Tramway Museum, Crich, visually impaired teenagers dressed a tram, evoking the custom of decorating trams for celebrations.

These and other outcomes were celebrated on Youth Culture Day, a one-day festival in Lincoln, which attracted more than 1,500 young visitors, many new to museums. Visitors were invited to take part in a range of taster activities, learning from the project participants. There were many opportunities to try new skills related to photography, music, dance, dress-making, fashion design, marketing, film-making and creative writing.

What were the outcomes?

The ‘Dress Codes’ project was particularly successful at:

• giving young people a new view of museums as dynamic and contemporary places,
• inspiring their creativity,
• promoting understanding between cultures,
• reaching individuals from diverse backgrounds including BME and C2, D and E social and economic groups.

As a result the project template has been adopted across the East Midlands for the ‘Identity’ audience development programme and a second Youth Culture Day is planned in 2008.

Participants in the ‘Dress Codes’ project

• increased their understanding of other cultures,
• found meaning in different textiles and clothing designs,
• learned some of the ways in which a person or item’s identity is formed, and how it changes,  
• developed new competencies, for example in photography, digital art, design and creative writing as well as developing key skills in teamwork, decision making and communication.