The Maribor Regional Museum celebrates 120 years in 2023. The varied programme started with the installation Castle Village Watching, which is dedicated to the collection of clothing culture and is set in a picturesque Rococo staircase on the west side of the city castle. If you are walking along Castle Street, be sure to take a look at the staircase windows! Seven dolls represent different periods and styles of dress between the 19th and 20th centuries. An expert guided tour of the exhibition and a lecture will be given by Maja Hren Brvar, Senior Curator of the Collections of Dress Culture, on 2 February 2023, at 18:00. Due to the overwhelming response to the first event, we will repeat the event! You are also invited to the Castle Walk on 14 February at 18:00.

Opening photo:

Women's dress

1880s

Two-piece ladies' dress in a combination of purple and black moire silk, with the characteristic 'tournure' cut - padded undergarments used to add fullness or support the drapery at the back of ladies' dresses. Dresses of this period had close-fitting bodices, and the long sleeves of the dresses were tight-fitting and often decorated at the wrists with ruffles or lace.

The overall appearance was very cramped and made it difficult to move around. Ladies were only able to take small and consequently extremely awkward steps with this silhouette. The dress earned the nickname 'spancel' (a device that prevents or restricts the movement of an animal by tying one or more of its legs).

As a result, the fashion of the 1880s paved the way for the drastic changes in fashion of the following decades, which focused more on function and comfort.