New exhibition opening at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle

‘Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion’ will open on March 22, 2025, and run until March 2026.

The exhibition will celebrate Joséphine Bowes’ taste as a collector of textiles and her personal interest in fashion.Evening shoes belonging to Empress Eugenie, c.1860  (Image: Bowes Museum)

The exhibition will be located in the Fashion and Textile Gallery and will complement the larger exhibition, ‘From Joséphine Bowes: Trendsetters and Trailblazers’, which opened on February 8, 2025.

The two exhibitions will offer an insight into Joséphine’s innovative, mixed-genre approach to collecting, and this special display will focus on the textile acquisitions made by Joséphine and John Bowes, and Joséphine’s interest in contemporary fashion.

Visitors to the County Durham museum can expect to see an eclectic display of floor-to-ceiling textiles in the Fashion and Textile Gallery, showcasing the variety and breadth of Joséphine’s collecting in this area. Evening bodice belonging to Joséphine Bowes, c.1855  (Image: Bowes Museum)

There will be an array of woven and embroidered chair covers from the rich selection which Joséphine acquired, alongside ecclesiastical textiles, lace, and items purchased for the museum at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867.

Surviving items of clothing and accessories belonging to Joséphine Bowes will also be displayed for the first time in several years, alongside other examples of historic dress from the 1850s and 1860s.

Archival material relating to her purchases will be on show, offering a personal insight into the items she owned and wore during her lifetime, and her interest in fashion.Elsa Schiaparelli jacket, AW 1937-38  (Image: Bowes Museum)

The historical items will be punctuated by more recent examples of French haute couture, including those purchased with Art Fund’s New Collecting Award in 2015, and with contributions from the Friends of The Bowes Museum.

Pieces by iconic twentieth-century designers including Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) and Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008), were acquired in the spirit of what Joséphine might have worn had she lived in the 20th and 21st centuries.

They will be shown alongside items by French designers Jacques Fath (1912–1954), Jeanne Paquin (1869–1936), Madeleine Vionnet (1876–1975), and hats by Simone Mirman (1912–2008). Madeleine Vionnet evening dress with replica under-dress, 1938 (Image: Bowes Museum)

This special display will also site the arrival of French fashions in the North East of England, only a decade after Joséphine Bowes’ death in 1874, when John James Fenwick (1846-1905), founder of Fenwick department store in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1882, began to bring examples of couture over from Paris in the mid-1880s.

A series of events have also been confirmed to coincide with the exhibition, free with day admission or membership, for textile, fashion, and history enthusiasts to enjoy.

Curator of Fashion and Textiles, Rachel Whitworth will lead monthly Spotlight Tours, offering a 30-minute introduction to the exhibition and overview of the display highlights.

Three themed talks in The Curator Series will focus on Joséphine Bowes’ love of fashion, her textile acquisitions, and the history of French fashion.(Image: Bowes Museum)

Bookings can be made via the website.

Rachel Whitworth, curator of fashion and textiles at The Bowes Museum, said: “This exciting exhibition, entirely drawn from The Bowes Museum’s permanent collection, is an opportunity to celebrate Joséphine Bowes as a woman both of and ahead of her time.

“She was a discerning collector of textiles and purchased clothes from the most fashionable couturiers and dressmakers of her time.

“The museum has sought to build on her legacy with examples of work by some of the most significant French designers of the 20th and 21st centuries.(Image: Bowes Museum)

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“Many of the items in the exhibition have not been displayed before and provide fresh insights into the formation of the museum.”

Joséphine: A Woman of Taste and Fashion opens at 10am on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the Fashion and Textiles Gallery at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle.

Entry to the exhibition is included in general admission and membership.(Image: Bowes Museum)