Margo Barton Sun bonnet and cotton velour swimsuit, 2016

Margo Barton interpreted June Black's 'Costume to face the world of the commonplace'. Margo wrote about her costume: "Millinery, possibly more than any other article of clothing or accessory can both attract and deflect attention. The hat can act as a disguise or a costume to enable the self to adopt an identity, an 'other' personality, both for the world to observe and for the self to occupy; the hat shields the self from the world and shields the world from the self. The well-considered hat can also assuage the troubled mind by providing a haven, a secure place to face the tediously dull world of the commonplace, and to celebrate the uncommon by wearing millinery. It is fair to assume that the hat was commonplace when June Black initiated her project in 1959, with photographic evidence of seas of hats adorning the masses; however that is not the position of millinery in 2016."

Details

Photographer: Fraser Chatham
Copyright: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence
Designer: Margo Barton
Manufacturing location: Dunedin
Garment type: Sun bonnet, bathing suit
Material: Linen, gold leaf trim inside, viscose lining (sun bonnet), cotton velour with leather and elastic trim (bathing suit)
Date: 2016