National Museum of Costume

The National Museum of Costume stood in Shambellie House, a Victorian country house near New Abbey in Dumfries and Galloway. David Bryce designed the house in 1856 for the Stewart family. Charles W. Stewart later donated his costume collection and the house to the Royal Scottish Museum in 1976. The museum opened in 1982 and showed fashion from the 1850s to the 1950s in lifelike room settings. It closed in January 2013 and did not reopen that year. The displays showed how wealthy families lived through changing times. The dining room recreated a summer evening in 1895 with evening dresses and a mourning dress of black satin trimmed with jet. The drawing room showed a May 1945 scene with Utility Scheme garments marked CC41 and a child’s dress altered from an adult’s. The library depicted a Hogmanay Ball in 1952 with 1950s evening dresses and family portraits. Visitors walked through furnished rooms that brought each era to life. The hall displayed a grandfather clock and portraits of the Stewart family. The upstairs landing held a linen cupboard with household textiles and lavender bags. The bedroom showed a September 1945 morning with a grandmother and granddaughter preparing for a local ball. The playroom presented an August 1913 evening with the nanny caring for a new baby. Every room offered a glimpse of both fashion and domestic life.