Rainbow Threads
- What
- EXHIBITION
- When
- Tickets
Rainbow Threads is an exhibition that celebrates the diversity of styles and stories that live within Museums Victoria’s clothing and textile collections with a series of displays of LGBTQIA+ collection material to be revealed throughout the year.
The stunning wedding dress worn by actor, writer and transgender rights activist Georgie Stone OAM on Neighbours in June 2022 was the first showcase unveiled in celebration of Trans Day of Visibility on Friday 31 March.
On Wednesday 17 May, the second display was revealed to acknowledge IDAHOBIT (International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia). Featuring costumes from iconic Xchange Hotel in South Yarra, this showcase highlights the embellished cape worn by Dorreen Manganini, one of the first Aboriginal drag performers.
The third showcase celebrates Non-Binary Peoples Day, revealed on 14 July. Highlighting a couture piece from a capsule collection by non-binary designer Jackie Wu, the display presents Look 1: Monument from The Body of Sacred and Torment.
On 8 October, the fourth display was revealed to mark International Lesbian Day, featuring a guernsey worn by Richmond Football Club’s captain Katie Brennan during the Season 7 AFLW Pride Round - recently donated by the Club to the Museum. Katie Brennan and vice-captain Sarah Hosking collaborated alongside designer Matthew Chan, with the sash telling the story of a young girl’s journey through life, as she grows and becomes part of the AFLW family through the Richmond Women’s program.
The final showcase was unveiled on 1 December to acknowledge World Aids Day, with four well-dressed bears on show. In 1992, Melbourne bearmaker Mitchell Tyrie called on creatives from around the world to dress around 300 bears to be auctioned raising funds for AIDS charities. The first was such a success that they held several more, raising thousands of dollars for charities including the Victorian AIDS Council and the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.
The showcases are a selection of recent acquisitions at Museums Victoria that, beyond the glitz and glamour, reveal stories of struggle, determination and triumph that deserve to be told.
