Costuming Katherine

An exhibition of beautiful costumes created for portrayals of acclaimed New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield on stage and screen. Kirsty Cameron and Sheila Horton’s creations move from the buttoned-up Edwardian style of Mansfield’s teenage years to her love of colour and use of clothing as a costume in daily life.

This exhibition focuses on two New Zealand productions, the 2011 film 'Bliss: the beginning of Katherine Mansfield' and Circa Theatre's 2018 production of 'Bloomsbury Women & the Wild Colonial Girl', which featured Mansfield as the central character. It explores how designers Kirsty Cameron and Sheila Horton conveyed different eras of Mansfield’s life and aspects of her personality through costume.

Katherine Mansfield loved attending the theatre, performed on stage and among friends, wrote short dialogues and acted as an extra in films. Did she ever imagine that she herself would one day appear as a character on stage and screen?

Born in 1888, fashion changed dramatically during the 34 years of Mansfield’s life and Mansfield herself was known to push boundaries with her clothing and use it as a form of self-expression.

“Last night I wore my dress. You cannot think how much I liked it. It is very lovely and there is something almost fairy in it. It makes me feel that wonderful adventures might happen if only one is dressed and ready.” Katherine Mansfield in a letter to S.S. Koteliansky, 26 February 1915

Exhibition included in entry to the house.

Supported by the Oroya & Melvin Day Charitable Trust.

Photograph from 'Bloomsbury Women & the Wild Colonial Girl' by Stephen A'Court.