The Friends of the Victoria Art Gallery recently attended a sell-out talk by Sophie McKinlay, the Project Director for reimagining the Fashion Museum.
Sophie explained how the Old Post Office, one of Bath’s jewels in the city centre, would become the new Fashion Museum as part of the Milsom Quarter, an exciting new development to bring art and culture to the city centre.
Previous experience at Tate Modern and the V&A in Dundee has shown Sophie that art and culture can be huge economic drivers: the latter for example, having a £304m impact for Scotland.
After the National Trust took back the lease on the Assembly Rooms in 2022, the internationally famous Fashion Museum collection had to find a new home.
Thanks to the foresight of B&NES Council, a decision was made to keep the unique collection in Bath and for it to become the anchor point for the Milsom Quarter, with its vision of being a museum on the High Street , a shared public space with a welcoming visibility.
The fashion Museum has over 100,000 gifted objects, ranging from the rare Silver Tissue Dress from 1600, worn at the Court of Charles II, to the Dress of the Year with cutting-edge contemporary designers. At the moment, the collection is in store at Dents near Warminster, but many items are loaned to worldwide exhibitions.
Sophie stressed how the remit involves learning and engagement with young people to promote awareness and opportunities in the fashion industry. There will also be an emphasis on environmental sustainability in the design by award-winning architects SixA.
The audience loved the idea of the inner courtyard being turned into a garden café – a green oasis in the busy city centre.
According to the Chair of Events for the Friends, Marian McNeir MBE :
“Sophie’s beautifully illustrated talk gave her very appreciative audience an insider’s insight into an exciting vision of one of the most important 21st-century developments for the city we all hold so dear. “
