THIS £10,000 metal dress, a tribute to the steel industry, is wowing fashion lovers after its big reveal at an exhibition in Yorkshire.
But it has never been worn.
And it never will be - unless an A-list celebrity is looking for a red carpet showstopper, and in a size 12.
The stunning aluminium outfit, which consists of a shoulder yoke and four linked hoops, is a replica of a long-lost steel dress made for Barnsley born Sixties supermodel Victoria Nixon who wore it in a 1969 ad promoting new innovative uses for British Steel.
It is on public show for the first time at Catwalking: Fashion through the lens of Chris Moore, a display of designer clothing and iconic photos, at Cannon Hall Museum, near Barnsley, until November 5, 2023 - see https://www.cannon-hall.com/whats-on/catwalking-fashion-through-the-lens-of-chris-moore
But it has never been worn.
And it never will be - unless an A-list celebrity is looking for a red carpet showstopper, and in a size 12.
The stunning aluminium outfit, which consists of a shoulder yoke and four linked hoops, is a replica of a long-lost steel dress made for Barnsley born Sixties supermodel Victoria Nixon who wore it in a 1969 ad promoting new innovative uses for British Steel.
It is on public show for the first time at Catwalking: Fashion through the lens of Chris Moore, a display of designer clothing and iconic photos, at Cannon Hall Museum, near Barnsley, until November 5, 2023 - see https://www.cannon-hall.com/whats-on/catwalking-fashion-through-the-lens-of-chris-moore
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Sixties supermodel Victoria Nixon dazzled in this steel dress made in Sheffield for
00:05 a 1968 British steel advert promoting new innovative uses.
00:10 She recently launched a search to find it but it was possibly melted down years ago
00:15 so her engineer designer husband Michael Messinger has recreated it.
00:19 The £10,000 dress that has never been worn, this time made of aluminium, is now on public
00:25 show for the first time at Barnsley Museum's free entry Canonore Museum exhibition, Catwalking
00:31 Fashion Through the Lens of Chris Moore, featuring the famed photographer's iconic catwalk
00:37 photos plus designer clothing including a male perspective, redressing fashion, a collection
00:43 by Simon Nichols, a Barnsley based salon owner.
00:47 Due to public demand the exhibition will now run to November 5th, 2023.
00:53 We caught up with Barnsley-born Victoria and Michael to tell us all about that dress.
00:58 I wanted to recreate the steel dress that I had so much fun wearing in my ad shoot in
01:05 the late 60s.
01:06 I thought wouldn't it be wonderful to actually find this dress again which we had tried to
01:11 do and didn't.
01:12 My husband, he's a designer and he was designing Formula One vehicles and was working with
01:18 a guy who specialised in steel production and his mother was a dress designer and dress
01:26 maker.
01:27 So it was the perfect combination and we said let's go for it.
01:31 There was a lot of trouble going on in the steel industry and I wanted to do something
01:36 to focus everybody back on the situation.
01:41 It's very rewarding but it was no challenge at all because if you look at the photograph
01:47 you can see that it's a yoke at the top and a number of pieces hanging from the yoke.
01:53 It's been copied by Paul Whitehead, controlled by me.
01:58 The reason for making it in aluminium is that that kind of stainless steel is no longer
02:06 made.
02:07 How much would that cost?
02:08 Upwards of £10,000.
02:10 We're at Cannon Hall Museum on Barkhouse Lane in Barnsley.
02:14 Check the website for opening times and further details about the exhibition.
02:18 (bell chimes)