Chatsworth Reveals House Style Exhibition
Chatsworth Reveals House Style Exhibition
THE residence of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, a frequent location for film sets and home to an extensive private art and sculpture archive, Chatsworth House is one of the most stylish stately homes in the country, and next year it is opening its doors to its largest exhibition to date.
House Style: Five Centuries Of Fashion At Chatsworth - curated by American Vogue's international editor-at-large Hamish Bowles - will open at the Derbyshire estate next spring, showcasing the history of fashion in the Devonshire Collection. Notable names from the last 500 years will be at the centre of the exhibition, including the 18th century "Empress of Fashion” Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Adele Astaire, sister and dance partner of Fred Astaire; two of the infamous Mitford sisters - Deborah Devonshire and Nancy Mitford; Stella Tennant, who was photographed with her grandmother, the 11th Duchess, at Chatsworth for Vogue; and John F Kennedy’s sister Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy. The stories of these captivating women will be brought to life through a comprehensive exploration of their clothing and accessories.
Ordered by themes such as Coronation Dress, The Devonshire House Ball, The Georgiana Effect, Country Living, and Entertaining At Chatsworth, the exhibition's highlight pieces will range from Jean-Phillipe Worth and Christian Dior couture and items from Gucci, Erdem, Alexander McQueen and Vetements, to livery and uniforms at Chatsworth across the ages, as well as 19th-century fancy-dress costumes and the family's coronation and wedding gowns.
Of curating the extensive exhibition, Bowles said this morning: "Chatsworth is a real treasure house and the characters of generations of Cavendish family members who have peopled its rooms and gardens and landscapes is revealed as vividly through their choice of clothing and adornments, as through the canvases and lenses of the great artists and photographers who have memorialised them through the centuries."
"In House Style," he continued, "we hope to bring these compelling and fascinating people and the very different worlds they inhabited to life, through the clothes and the jewels that they wore.”
