FLOWERS, FEATHERS, FASHION with Dorothy Morgan

Man has always decorated himself and his environment using elements from the natural world. However the form this impulse takes can be subject to the vagaries of fashion. From the flamboyant Bird of Paradise to the shy retiring violet, from intrepid plant collectors to explorers driven by commercial imperatives and much between we look at some of the drivers of fashionability and how this has been expressed through objects, some from The Johnston Collection, in man's use of the world of nature.

DOROTHY MORGAN,  an honours history graduate of The University of Melbourne, was Guest Curator of both the exhibition FLOWERING NEEDLES: embroidery from Elizabeth to Victoria, (2010) and the house tour FAIR HALL TO GLAD PARLOUR: The Flower, Its Beauty & Meaning in Art & Ornament (2011). She has lectured on Bess of Hardwicke (2010) and on the life of Mary Granville, Mrs Delany (2013). All have been for The Johnston Collection.