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Description: | During May, 1936, the Barrett Street school celebrated its 21st birthday, and commemorated the event with a -Coming of Age Exhibition. The school was opened to guests, and a fashion show and open were areas were held. In December of that year, the senior school presented its first dress parade, with a commentary in French and English. Garments had traditionally been modelled by student -mannequins (student models) for viewing at the annual exhibition of work, but this was the first time a dress parade was staged. The performance shown in this photograph was most likely a "mime and model" entertainment for the Coming of Age Exhibition. This performance was intended to show the work that was carried out by students in their trade classes, in this case, the process of embroidery from start to finish. It was such a successful event that it was copied for the annual exhibition. The last recorded staging of such an entertainment was during Warship Week at the time of WWII, when the school was evacuated to Maidenhead. The event in this photograph is taking place on the theatre stage in the Barrett Street school. This photograph is heavily spotted. Trade overalls Notes in the archive indicate that, from the 1915 inception of the Trade School for Girls at Barrett Street, pupils wore trade overalls that reflected their area of study. From the photographic archive, the following convention seems to have been followed up until the mid-1930s, with some possible exceptions for hairdressing students during the early years of the school: · Dressmaking students - wore white overalls with red and green embroidery. · Embroidery junior students - wore white overalls with collars embroidered in orange and gold · Embroidery senior students - wore white overalls with embroidered monograms · Tailoring students - wore blue overalls (these appear dark in the black and white archive images) · Hairdressing junior students - wore short sleeved overalls with black and white embroidered collars · Hairdressing senior students - wore plain white overalls During this period, overalls may also have been characterised by the cut of the neckline: round necks for embroidery students, square necks for dressmaking students. This differentiation is at times seemingly inconsistent in the photographic archive, although it has been reported by at least one historian who has studied the history of the London trade schools. Around the early to mid 1930s, trade overalls for students were changed to wrap around garments. No uniforms were required for mature evening students of any period. | Subjects: | jacket photograph evening coat uniforms trade overalls theatre studies female students Theatre: exhibition drama womenswear embroidery shawls | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Photographer unknown Creator Corporate Name: Barrett Street school | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7647... | Go to resource |
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