Visitors to one of the region's top museums could be forgiven for thinking it was especially chilly.

Anyone who looks closely at the forthcoming Norman Parkinson exhibition at the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, will notice even the mannequins will be wearing vests.

They have been made to protect the fabric of the 1950s and 1960s gowns and suits that will form part of the Norman Parkinson: Portraits in Fashion exhibition, which opens at the museum in February.

Parkinson is considered one of the greatest fashion photographers and the display will feature original prints of his work taken for Vogue magazine in the late 1950s and 1960s.

The Norman Parkinson photographs are being loaned from the National Portrait Gallery.

Joanna Hashagen, the Bowes Museum's keeper of textiles and exhibition curator, said: "I didn't want to show the photographs in isolation and the National Portrait Gallery has allowed me to do a slightly different exhibition focusing on the 1950s and early 1960s."

The mannequins are 1950s originals, and reflect the size of women of that period, with a much slimmer waist than modern mannequins.

Ms Hashagen said: "They are historical items in themselves."

Many costumes have a local link with the Norman Parkinson photographs. Several of the dresses were once owned by Lady Havelock-Allan of Blackwell Grange in Darlington.

Published: 30/12/2004