MOVING from London to Oxfordshire proved the inspiration behind an exhibition of contemporary costume blending wildlife and period fashion, which is opening soon in the region.

Dress designer and textile artist Kate Plumtree has created costumes that combine British wild birds and animals with period dress for the touring exhibition Worn To Be Wild.

“I moved to Oxfordshire and it was the wildlife surrounding me that I found really inspiring having relocated from London and being a city girl,” she explains.

“I was working with a museum in Oxfordshire and they offered me a space to put my work in.

They had a lot of stuffed birds in their collection and I thought about looking at fashion through wildlife. It’s using a love of nature and history as a costume-maker.”

Worn To Be Wild has been touring museums and galleries for the past four years, arriving at Scarborough Art Gallery later this month.

Plumtree, who studied at Wimbledon School of Art and has a BA (Hons) in costume design, has produced costumes for theatre – including the Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Opera and for West End musicals such as The Lion King – but this exhibition offered her the chance to do something that was all her own work, from design, choosing fabrics to making the costumes.

As a qualified art teacher, it’s also an extension of her teaching with its use of different creative textile techniques for each animal.

She wanted to reflect the character of each bird and animal through the choice of fabric and period dress design.

“The birds spoke to me,” she says explaining her approach to the designs. “The first one was the heron. They are very statuesque and quite menacing, very still and then they pounce. It was the coldness and stillness that attracted me, and led to a late Victorian bodice in the costume.

“That’s in contrast to the kingfisher which does the same thing – kills fish – but in a very different way, almost like dancing. That led to creating an 18th Century dance costume.

“The ideas spun around in my mind and in a flurry I did a quick drawing of how I saw them and then went into the making. It was all to do with images and fabrics.”

Not only herons and kingfishers but swans, woodpeckers and birds of prey such as the golden eagle are featured in the collection. She started off with birds in a display called Flocks To Frocks before expanding the exhibition with other animals.

She’s seen most of the birds and animals in their natural habitat, but visited a British Wildlife Centre and, with the aid of a ranger, was able to study other creatures close up.

“I was able to get three feet away from a wildcat, which aren’t very friendly creatures, and see a hedgehog curl up. I was struck by the softness underneath and the hard coating which became a spiky needle coat with a soft fringe underneath,” says Plumtree.

“I tried to capture the animal’s textures rather than the patterns and colours, otherwise it would just have been a lot of brown costumes.”

One of her favourites is the woodpecker, which became a 1970s catsuit. When Plumtree was taking pictures on location, the model wearing it clambered up a tree in platform boots and flairs for the photograph.

She has used a range of authentic materials and techniques reminiscent of each period in creating the costumes, paying attention to the movement, character, habitat and style of the creatures such as medieval deer, contemporary hedgehog, elegant 18th Century mute swan, a dramatic 1930s golden eagle and a sultry Victorian fox.

Location photography taken by Plumtree in each creature’s natural environment is a feature of the exhibition.

Adults and children can even try on some outfits in the dressing- up area.

The exhibition, which has been featured on BBC2’s Springwatch programme, continues to tour all this year, with Scarborough being the first Northern date.

She has produced a sequel called Talons and Tiaras, featuring 14 gowns inspired by British birds and vintage couture, which is already visiting museums around the country.

The dresses are also available to buy.

As well as the exhibitions, Plumwell does education work involving design, fabrics and fashion rather than theatrical costume work.

  • Worn To Be Wild: Scarborough Art Gallery, Jan 25-March 22. The gallery is open 10am-5pm each day except Mondays and Bank Holidays.

Information 01723-374753 and scarboroughmuseumstrust.org.uk For further information on Kate Plumtree visit kate-plumtree.com