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Overview
This dress and jacket were purchased by the donor for her wedding, which took place during the height of summer in 1982 at the Paparoa Methodist Church on the Kaipara Harbour.
She purchased the ensemble from Susan Holmes' stall in Brown's Mill, a craft co-op and market in Auckland which boasted a diverse range of potters, glass artists, woodworkers, jewellers, textile artists and clothing designers. Holmes, who had begun working with fabric in 1971, had established her own stall at the market in 1972, and had quickly developed a reputation for her hand-dyed and printed fabrics, and flowing, bohemian garments.
This ensemble is typical of Susan Holmes' romantic style of the early 1980s. Holmes has dip dyed the ensemble to create graduating shades of yellow, and hand painted them with a pattern of stems of yellow roses. While the donor purchased her wedding ensemble 'off the rack', she commissioned a flower girl dress, which is similar in feel, for her 10 year old daughter directly from Holmes. Dip dyed in sky blue, it features a scattering of blue roses and leaves (see TMP021218).