Exhibition Press Release: The Dark Truth Behind the Fairy Tales of the Brothers’ Grimm

Second year BA (Hons) Art History and Visual Culture students Ella Chalice, Ray Elliot Ling, Tiggy Mills and Martha Rabetts have curated a showcase exploring the dark undercurrents of Grimm fairy tales at St Peter’s House Library. 

Press Release

Discover The Dark Truth Behind The Fairy Tales Of The Brothers Grimm

 The Dark Truth Behind the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Supported by the University of Brighton

St Peter’s House Library Ground Floor

With thanks to the St Peter’s House Library Special Collection and Suzanne Rowland

Visit our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ahexhibition/

Fairy Tales, those cherished stories from our childhood, are often associated with magic, whimsy, and happy endings. However, the origins of these beloved stories are much darker. These tales, once rooted in the oral traditions of peasant communities, were full of cruelty, exploitation, and the grim morals of life.

Opening on the 3rd of December 2024

 The Dark Truth Behind the Fairy Tales of the Brothers’ Grimm is a display that provides an opportunity to remember not just the Grimm Brothers, but the voices they recorded and the cultures they preserved. This exhibition is a chance to see fairy tales not just as escapism, but as tools of understanding the darkness and resilience of the human spirit through these characters.

Fairy Tales are more than stories; they are cultural artifacts. In their earliest forms, these narratives reflected the fears, struggles, and moral dilemmas of the societies they came from. The Grimms’ adaptations, for instance, often addressed themes like poverty, greed, and the exploitation of children. These tales weren’t just bedtime stories—they were mirrors to society’s darkest truths and guides on survival.

Feature Spotlight

The Display will have a focus on the story and character of Rumpelstiltskin, with an exclusive look at objects from St Peters House Library’s special collection including:

  • Rare books and objects from Peter’s House Library’s special collection, including original copies of the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.
  • A presentation of David Hockney’s Grimm’s Fairy Tales etchings, which visually explore the psychological depth of these stories.
  • Arthur Rackham’s iconic illustrations, contrasting beauty with the tales’ darker truths.

Both written and illustrated depictions of the tales of Rumpelstiltskin will be showcased. Through these works, visitors will see how the Grimms’ adaptations evolved over time—softened and reimagined for modern audiences, yet still preserving echoes of their original starkness.

Reclaiming the Raw Edges of History

At its core, Rumpelstiltskin is a story about greed, deceit, and the commodification of labor and children. The miller’s lie about his daughter’s abilities traps her in a perilous cycle of exploitation. And the goblin’s demand for her child could be seen as a metaphor for the toll of labour. Yet, this tale—deeply layered and universal—has never received the same cultural spotlight as, say, Cinderella. We invite you to look at what it says about the values we choose to amplify and why.

These objects are not just relics; they’re evidence of the evolution of storytelling. They demonstrate how the Grimms’ work was adapted, softened, and reimagined for different audiences. For instance, David Hockney’s etchings use visual abstraction to emphasize the psychological complexity of the tales, while Arthur Rackham’s illustrations add a layer of beauty that masks their brutality.

As time passes, we lose the raw edges of history. Stories like Rumpelstiltskin and Hansel and Gretel become fairy dusted, and we forget the real lessons they carried. This exhibition is an opportunity to remember—not just the Grimms, but the voices they recorded and the cultures they preserved. It challenges us to look at fairytales not as escapism, but as tools of understanding—tools that reveal both the darkness and resilience of the human spirit.

Event Details:

  • Exhibition Dates: December 3, 2024 – 5th Dec 2024
  • Location: St Peter’s House Library
  • No Tickets required- open to staff and students of Brighton University
  • Contact: ElliotLing1@uni.brighton.ac.uk

Step into a world where fairy tales are not merely bedtime stories but cultural artifacts. Rediscover the voices, struggles, and hopes of the societies that shaped them.

Join us this winter to uncover the dark truths behind the stories we thought we knew.

Curated by Ella Chalice, Ray Elliot Ling, Tiggy Mills and Martha Rabetts.

Exhibition Press Release: ‘An Ancestor to the Office Siren: Women’s Workwear 1940-45’

Second year BA (Hons) Fashion and Design History students Daphne Chatterley, Amy Garrod, Amy Roberts, Jenny Stirling and Maggie Swan have curated a showcase on WWII Women’s Workwear at Mithras House. 

PRESS RELEASE

Issued 11/2024

An Ancestor to the Office Siren: Women’s Workwear 1940-45

3 December 2024 – April 2025

Mithras House

Launching on 3 December 2024, ‘An Ancestor to the Office Siren: Women’s Workwear 1940-45’ will be a short exhibition exploring the suits worn by women during a decade pivotal to society’s view of the working woman, on a backdrop of conflict and rationing of resources.

Eye-catching visual stimuli such as the dreamlike advertising fashion plates of clothing manufacturer Harella accompanies an ensemble of both authentic and replica/imitation 1940s garments to encapsulate the silhouette and lines of the popular style for women of the time, while period newspaper columns from British fashion journalist Alison Settle (Vogue editor 1929-36) illustrate the experience of dressing for the average woman in Britain, amidst rationing schemes in a conflict-torn political landscape.

The exhibition offers insight into the silhouettes of the era, with their accentuated shoulder and hip lines imitating masculinities, as women began to occupy previously male-exclusive workplaces, representing an assimilation through dress – but an empowering form of dress nonetheless.

Visitors will also be met with information on the rationing coupon scheme utilised during the Second World War, and gain an understanding of the value of coupons to garments similar to those displayed, while Settle’s writings describe the various make-do home methods of repurposing and recycling garments (often men’s) in a time of making little go a long way.

“In a few words, the war years in the U.K. meant coupon rationing, shortages, make-do and mend, and what came to be officially to be known as ‘Utility Clothing’.”

– Alison Settle

Two and three-dimensional objects loaned from the university’s Teaching Collection and Design Archives allow this exhibition to materialise and investigate the self-styling practices of the 1940s woman through dress in a time of austerity and political uncertainty while navigating the workplace, encouraging interest and engagement in a younger audience familiarised with the current micro-trend of the ‘office siren’, a seductive and hyper feminine character in the corporate style; presenting a predecessor to this in an era where imitating masculinities inspired major trends.

For high resolution images see below.

Further Information

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Notes to Editors

Curated and presented by Daphne Chatterley, Amy Garrod, Amy Roberts, Jenny Stirling and Maggie Swan, students of BA Hons Fashion & Design History.

As a curatorial team we prioritise providing both visual and textual stimuli for visitors to enable fulfilling engagement with historical subject matter, while finding relevant links to style and popular culture today, such as internet trends and vintage revival. We aspire to bring women’s stories to the forefront of our historical studies as a group of queer and feminist students, challenging an art historical canon dominated by male figures.

This exhibition can be found in Mithras House, home to social studies at the University of Brighton, and the Teaching Collection founded by Professor Lou Taylor.

 

Mithras House

Lewes Road

Moulsecoomb, Brighton

BN2 4QX

 

Acknowledgements

With special thanks to the advisory assistance from Suzanne Rowland and Nicola Miles, help with the loan of objects from Sue, Sirpa and Jen at the University of Brighton Design Archives, and technical assistance of Arden Mccutcheon.

Fig. 1, Daphne Chatterley, An Ancestor to the Office Siren Exhibition Poster, Nov 2024.
image on poster: Artist unknown, Fashion magazine advert, c.1940s, UK, via The Advertising Archives, Bridgeman Education.

 

Fig. 2: View from the “An Ancestor of the Office Siren: Women’s Workwear 1940-1945” Exhibition, Mithras House, University of Brighton, Brighton. Personal photograph by Amy Garrod. 3 Dec 2024.

 

 

 

Annie Wright reviews the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Fashion Gallery

Final year Fashion and Design History student Annie Wright reviews the V&A’s Fashion gallery. 

Victoria and Albert Fashion Gallery Review

Annie Wright

 

The Victoria and Albert Museum “was established in 1852, following the popular success of the great exhibition of 1851”[1]. Textiles were a part of the collection from early on, but “initially dress was acquired for the technical quality and design of the woven, printed or embroidered textiles from which it was made rather than for its fashionable significance”[2]. However, “by the 1890s the aesthetic appeal of dress became increasingly appreciated amidst a wider interest in British history”[3]. It was in 1957 that “the museums first dedicated fashion curator was appointed”[4]. And in 1960, one of the museums first fashion exhibitions, A Lady of Fashion”[5]. In 1971 “Sir Cecil Beaton persuaded his aristocratic and stylish friends to donate 1,200 items of haute couture to the V&A for an exhibition Fashion: An Anthology”[6]. Which would become the basis of the galleries twentieth century collection. And the exhibition, with its “dramatic styling, marked the beginning of modern fashion curation”[7]. The gallery since has only grown in popularity, with landmark exhibitions such as Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in 2015, which “became the museum’s most visited exhibition”[8].

Figure 1, Peshwaz, Late 18th century to early 19th century, India, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O470782/peshwaz/.

Figure 2, Sun Sun Company, Qipao, 1930, Shanghai, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1151302/qipao-sun-sun-company/

Figure 3, Dress Fabric, 1600-1700, Isfahan, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86626/dress-fabric-unknown/.

The V&A fashion gallery provides an excellent timeline of western upper-class fashion, which spans from the mid to late 18th century to present day.  However, the fashion gallery largely excludes non-western garments from their timeline, which dangerously perpetuates the long-standing colonial narrative, that throughout history has been pushed by museums, that non-western societies are inferior. Museums are a place of education, and “continue to be one of society’s most trusted institutions”[9], therefore the public may not question this narrative. Bernie Macdonald, the director of decolonizing initiatives at San Diego Museum of Man, states “Museums were birthed from the colonial endeavour”[10] and “Museums and collectors not only claimed ownership over the material object, but also drafted their own narratives and stories of the “primitive” people who made them and their uses”[11]. The V&A is guilty of creating their own narrative, as the exclusion of garments from non-western cultures from their fashion timeline perpetuates the idea of western superiority and supports the idea of the oriental “other”. The issue is not regarding the V&A needing to acquire garments from non- western cultures, as they already have plenty, which can be found in their other galleries. Like the British and European galleries, the South Asia (Figure 1), Chinese (Figure 2), Islamic Middle East (Figure 3), Japanese (Figure 4) and Korean (Figure 5) galleries all contain both textiles and items of clothing. However, unlike the British and European galleries, these items are not also included in the fashion gallery. Out of nearly 200 items on display only a handful are non-western, including a dress by Cheedonian Boutique (Figure 6) and a skirt and coat by Yohji Yamamoto (Figure 7).

Figure 4, Kimono, 1870-1890, Japan, Victoria and Albert Museum, Personal Photograph by the Author, 10 March, 2023.

Figure 5, Samo, 19th century, Korea, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O485775/samo-hat-unknown/.

Figure 6, Cheedoniam Boutique, Dress, 1994, Sierra Leone, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1644195/dress-cheedonian-boutique/.

Figure 7, Yohji Yamamoto, Skirt, 2004-2005, Japan, Victoria and Albert Museum, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1245355/skirt-yohji-yamamoto/.

Another issue is that item labels are small, usually around 50 words or less, which creates an issue when an item requires context. For example, one display in the gallery includes a shawl from 1860-65, which was made in France but is inspired by Indian textiles (Figure 8). But with the label’s word count being small, the colonial history may not be apparent to the audience. There is more information about the shawl on the website, however it is unlikely that the public would look there or even know to look there.

On the July 2nd 2022 until the April 16th 2023, the V&A held an exhibition called Africa Fashion, which was “the UK’s frst major exploration of 20th-century style across Africa and the diaspora”[12]. The exhibition “drew the highest attendance figures for the event since 2019”[13] and was even visited by king Charles III. The exhibition was definitely a step in the right direction for the fashion galleries at the museum and showed that the museum is capable of decolonising its displays. With even the mannequins being remade to look less Eurocentric as there is “a lack of diversity in commercially available mannequins”[14]. Whilst it is great that this exhibition was held, the fact it was only temporary still contributes to Eurocentric narrative. There needs to be these exhibitions but also more garments in the permanent collection.

Unfortunately, the lack of inclusivity in the permanent fashion gallery does not just come from Eurocentric and colonial ideas about museums but also funding. The museum “ is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport[15], therefore changing and adding to the fashion gallery may not be as easy. But with exhibitions like Africa fashion showing that the museum is ready and wanting to decolonise its practices. And block buster expiations like the Coco Channel one currently being held, will bring in more money for the museum. There is hope for change soon.

 

References

[1] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[2] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[3] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 6.

[4] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016),, 7.

[5] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[6] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[7] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 7.

[8] Claire Wilcox, “Introduction”, V&A Gallery of Fashion, edited by Claire Wilcox and Jenny Lister, (V&A Publishing, 2016), 8.

[9] Robert R. Janes, Richard Sandell, “Posterity has arrived: The necessary emergence of museum activism”, Museum Activism, edited by Robert R. Janes, Richard Sandell, (Routledge, 2019), 6.

[10] Brandie Macdonald, “Pausing, Reflection, and Action: Decolonizing Museum Practices”, Journal of Museum Education, Volume 47, Issue 1, 2022, 10.

[11] Brandie Macdonald, “Pausing, Reflection, and Action: Decolonizing Museum Practices”, Journal of Museum Education, Volume 47, Issue 1, 2022, 10.

[12] “A year in highlights”, V&A Annual Review 2022-23, 6.

[13] “Performance against strategic objectives”, Victoria and Albert Museum Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, 10.

[14] Rachel Lee, “Why representation matters: Creating the Africa Fashion mannequin”, Victoria and Albert Museum, January 25, 2023, https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/why-representation-matters-creating-the-africa-fashion-mannequin.

[15] Victoria and Albert Museum, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/victoria-and-albert-museum.

Opulence to Ashes: An exploration into the gendered marketing of the tobacco industry

Alicia Curran, Deale Fisher, Eden Parsley and Scarlett Swinnerton have curated an exhibition reflecting on the relationship between gender identity and the marketing of tobacco in their second-year project for the BA History of Art and Design module  ‘Understanding Exhibitions and Creating Displays’.

Opulence to Ashes is an exhibition, recently curated using archived materials from the University of Brighton’s Design Archives, now open in the foyer of St Peter’s House Library. This exhibition delves into the intriguing topic of gendered marketing within the tobacco industry and explores how marketing strategies have targeted specific gender identities and influenced consumer behaviour. Opulence to Ashes examines the utilisation of imagery, colours, and messaging that have traditionally reinforced gender stereotypes. By analysing these aspects, the exhibition prompts visitors to question the underlying messages and consider the broader implications.

The focus of this exhibition is on examining the ways in which the tobacco industry has targeted specific gender identities through their marketing strategies. Delving into the use of imagery, colours, and messaging that have traditionally reinforced gender stereotypes and influenced consumer behaviour. It looks at how cigarettes were initially marketed as symbols of masculinity, often with rugged cowboys and suave gentlemen being used to promote various brands. On the other hand, certain cigarette brands were specifically targeted towards women, employing feminine aesthetics and associations with elegance and sophistication. Opulence to Ashes brings you their own discovered cigarette brand: High Kings.

Seen below is an image of two reconstructed High Kings cigarette packages alongside the gender strategised, and targeted, design brief. The team chose the Olive Green packaging as in the brief this colour is explained as targeted at females and the Opulence to Ashes team want to allow the chance for any attendees to this exhibition to refer to this in the feedback. Boxes of this particular branded cigarette were also enhanced to appear either lighter in colour or more golden than those targeted at men.

As the exhibition progresses, it highlights the impact of gendered marketing on individuals and society. It examines the ways in which these marketing tactics have reinforced harmful gender norms and perpetuated inequality. As well as offering insight through the dissection of advertisement and promotional materials, present amongst the exhibition materials is the High Kings design brief that associates colours with certain age groups and genders. When creating this exhibition, with a target audience of university students and academic professionals in mind, the Opulence to Ashes team approached the advertisement of this exhibition with huge creative intention.

Seen below is a poster created by the team to advertise the exhibition. The playful use of a propaganda style poster is an effective strategy being used here when considered alongside the fact that there is a high likeliness that members of the target audience will be provoked by the look of the poster furthermore intrigued.

 

Looking at the intended audience and recognising that the ages of many people attending our exhibition would be anywhere from 18 to mid-late twenties, we understood that social media would be one of the most useful tools in advertising our exhibition as well as building our brand aesthetic and continuity to the exhibition pieces. Instagram being our chosen form of representation and advertising for the exhibition allowed for the aesthetic of Opulence to Ashes to be appointed prior to the exhibition.

Something Old, Something New: The Influence of the White Wedding in Popular Culture

Emily Hetherington, Neve Lloyd Owen, Maizie Hegarty-Woods Alexandra Laveglia and Maddison Brathwaite – Richards review the significance of the wedding dress in their second-year exhibition project for the BA History of Art and Design module  ‘Understanding Exhibitions and Creating Displays’.

‘Something Old and Something New’, Exhibition View, 2023

Something Old and Something New is a new exhibition looking at wedding traditions through different pop culture moments and how people have gone against them. What is thought as one of the oldest wedding traditions, the white wedding dress, popularised by Queen Victoria, was promoted through media and magazines that made people believe that wedding dresses were always white. For many, white wedding dresses show a fairy tale ending for them, not unlike the ones seen in Disney’s Cinderella. For some Christians a white wedding dress shows the end of innocence and purity of a child into adulthood as a stepping into a new stage of life. In the Global North the white wedding dresses is so integral to our image of weddings that it has bled into the Global South, with many people opting to having a white dress in some capacity alongside their own traditions. One of the many ways the tradition has leaked into different cultures is through televised royal weddings, such as the 1981 marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, watched by 750 million people in 74 countries, which was a major pop culture moment of the 1980s. So, the exhibition here starts with a wedding dress from 1984 designed by Patricia Miller that is stylistically inspired by Diana’s own wedding dress, from the University’s own teaching dress collection. This dress is our launching point for looking at how bridal traditions are upheld, subverted or broken within Western pop culture.

Installing a wedding dress (1984) from the University of Brighton Dress History Teaching Collection

The rhyme that gives the name of the exhibition comes from “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” links to wedding traditions. The rhyme dates to about to the 19th century in the British Ilses and has been part of weddings for almost the same amount of time, as it is said to help the wedding go smoothly for the bride. Many pop culture weddings follow this tradition but many don’t. An example of a wedding not following the normal traditions was Bianca and Mick Jagger’s weddings in 1971. Bianca Jagger wore trousers to this wedding which broke standards of what we saw with celebrity weddings and since then there have been examples of women opting for trousers as their bridal dress, especially with the rise of LGBTQIA+ weddings. In this way we can see how something new can become something old in a short amount of time.

Display case, ‘Something Old and Something New’

Ultimately, through this new exhibition we want people leave with an understanding of how tradition is invented, through examining weddings. As the British social scientist and geographer Doreen Massey writes, tradition is seen through nostalgia, something that we need to maintain, or it will be lost. White weddings and all we expect from them comes from our understanding of what we have seen whether that be from pop culture or from our personal experiences of weddings, ideas that can hopefully be seen in this new display on the second floor of Mithras House, next to the Hellerup stairs.

Curated by Emily Hetherington, Neve Lloyd Owen, Maizie Hegarty-Woods Alexandra Laveglia and Maddison Brathwaite – Richards.

Reorienting the Orient

Annie Wright, Grace Dowle, Megan Glass, Avery Chamberlain and Eden Cronin have curated an exhibition reflecting on the connection between objects associated with the idea of ‘the Orient’ and the social construction of cultural difference within British society in their second-year project for the BA History of Art and Design module  ‘Understanding Exhibitions and Creating Displays’.

Reorienting the Orient: Upcycling as a Cross Cultural Practice, Mithras House, 6th Dec 2023

Reorienting the Orient is an exhibition that aims to explore the narratives and aims of cross-cultural consumption and the repurposing of cultural garments for alternative uses in the west. Ideas surrounding where these garments were intended to be worn are contrasted between systems of international export and local trading, which allows for an interesting comparison in the usage of oriental clothing in Britain.

Orientalism, a term coined by Edward W. Said, describes the western construction of ‘the Orient’ as a place of mysticism and exoticism and reflects Britain’s imperial relations with Asia. Britain’s connections to the Orient have influenced popular fashion trends in many ways through the years. Reorienting the Orient documents multiple examples of the dissemination of imported Oriental goods into British society, whilst also providing context behind specific examples.

The exhibition features two main pieces, selected from the Dress History Teaching Collection. The first, a skirt most likely handcrafted by the Rabari, a nomadic tribe indigenous to the Kutch district of Northern India. Despite initially being thought to be from the Rajasthan state of India, research suggests the bright embroidered motifs of peacocks and mango trees to be that of Rabari craft. This skirt would have been created for local consumption within the Kutch district, but was brought to Brighton by John Gillow amidst the British fascination with Indian culture during the 1960’s.

Reorienting the Orient: Upcycling as a Cross Cultural Practice, Mithras House, 6th Dec 2023

The second garment from the same collection is a Cantonese shawl, dating anywhere from the late 19th to early 20th century. Also being known as ‘Manila Shawls’ and ‘Manton de Manila’, these fabrics were most often made of silk and featured the Yue embroidery that is native to the Canton region. Patterns on these shawls often include scenes from nature and mythical creatures. This specific example features embroidered motifs of foliage on cream silk, with a border of fringe encasing the design. In contrast to the Rabari skirt, these Cantonese shawls would have been made specifically for western use. The consumption of these garments in Europe would ultimately lead to the commissioning of western cultural emblems to be embroidered on them, and the chartering of trade companies designed to import these products to various European nations.

Reorienting the Orient: Upcycling as a Cross Cultural Practice, Mithras House, 6th Dec 2023

Although both of these pieces show the significance of orientalist clothing in Britain in both the 19th and 20th centuries, ‘Reorienting the Orient’ also displays evidence of orientalism as an ongoing practice. This is shown through the exhibiting of two recent examples, purchased by the curators locally, in the Brighton lanes. Displayed on a mannequin alongside the Rabari skirt is a long sleeve cropped blouse in a rich maroon colour. The pattern featured on the garment shows clear inspiration from South Asian clothing and shows how cultural items from the Orient may have been understood and worn in a westernised context. Alongside the Cantonese shawl, a small toiletry case is displayed, which features designs and motifs that are heavily east-Asian inspired. Despite a lack of information on this piece, the purpose can be assumed to be that of western consumption, with copies of this very product being found on selling sites such as eBay.

Throughout Reorienting the Orient, the idea of a difference in production and consumption remains constant, with comparisons between the intended purposes, trade routes and the adopting of the exhibited garments into western society.

The exhibition, curated by Annie Wright, Grace Dowle, Megan Glass, Avery Chamberlain and Eden Cronin, is now available for viewing on the second floor of Mithras House (top of the Hellerup stairs).