Feather fashion flutters into Bowes

Bowes Museum will be the only place to see a dramatic and striking new exhibition this month.

Birds of Paradise – Plumes and Feathers in Fashion is a tribute to the elegance of feathers used in the fashion industry past and present, featuring extravagant catwalk creations from British, Belgian, French and Italian designers including Alexander McQueen, Dries Van Noten, Christian Dior, Thierry Mugler, Balenciaga, Prada and Gucci.

Thanks to their beauty, fragility and value, feathers and plumes had various connotations and were used throughout history in fashionable dress, both as an accessory and as part of the entire silhouette. The exhibition, organised by MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp, addresses aspects such as luxury, modernism, femininity, lightness, and also themes of lost innocence and dark romance.

The exhibition features the ancient profession of plumassier in co-operation with the Parisian Maison Lemarié, one of the last traditional feather studios. This fashion house has specialised in processing plumes, primarily for French haute couture, since 1880.

Maison Lemarié is making samples of its beautiful feather work especially for this exhibition.

The fashion for feathers as accessories is also revealed with tantalising displays of fans, hats, including a number by Stephen Jones, and sumptuous feather shoes from Roger Vivier.

The exhibition runs from October 25 until 19 April 2015.

Watch Julie Harrison's full report below: