MFF IDEAS PROGRAM 2021 | SPREADING THE STYLE NEWS with Lise Rodgers

How do we know what’s in fashion? Who tells us how to “get the look”?

In our digital world we need go no further than the offerings of today’s fashion bloggers and insta influencers. With one click, we instantly have all the style updates and images to show us what we should be wearing and how to put it all together and when we find someone whose look we aspire to, we can “follow” them for how to advice.

In the 18th century, before the advent of a fashion press, obtaining style news was far more difficult. Unless you could actually see someone, wearing it, or touch the garment, how would you know what was in?  The answer lay with dolls – Pandora dolls. Dressed in the latest fashions with the underwear, the shoes, the accessories all in miniature; these little gifts exchanged between family and friends provided a hands-on experience for fashion starved folk. And as astute dressmakers, milliners, shoemakers and hairdressers began circulating Pandoras to advertise their work to a wider customer base, fashion trends became generally accessible. Fashion as an industry became a possibility and the rest, shall we say, is history!

Join Lise Rodgers for a fascinating look at Spreading the Style News from the 18th century Pandoras to the 21st century influencers.

LISE RODGERS is an accomplished Melbourne actress whose career has spanned stage, screen and radio. With a passion for literature, character and the Spoken Word, she is widely known for her ongoing Jane Austen series of performances. Lise has been a regular contributor to the MFF arts programme with presentations inspired by her love of all things fashionable.

Image: unknown maker, wooden doll, France, circa 1760, collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, BK-NM-3396, purchase 1877