A Fashionable Collection

What story cannot be told through the things that people have worn through time? Bringing us as close to the body as possible, the vast and brilliant collection of fashion and dress at the National Trust gives us intimate access to the life and style of some of the most influential and interesting people to have lived, worked and dressed themselves at our places. From footmen in their finest livery to a famous farmer’s clogs; knickers, nightshirts, and ballgowns of the rich and powerful, the collection is a veritable treasure trove, a dressing-up box of stories, tales, fabrications and fancies.

In our upcoming publication 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the Collections of the National Trust, we’ve thrown open the wardrobes of the National Trust to uncover the significant part that fashion and dress have played, from the religious embroideries of the 15^th century right up to the sharply cut suits of the 1990s.

The diversity of the collection means we can even tell the story of some of the greatest builders, makers, movers and shakers from across the National Trust, who are responsible for some of the greatest feats of architecture in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We’ve shared some of their stories – and their fantastic clothes – here.

Bess the builder

Built within the landscape of her childhood home, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire stands as a testament to Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury’s (1527–1608) tenacious and determined path through life. Her high-status marriages, financial capabilities and entrepreneurial land management created a vast fortune that she invested in ambitious building projects at Chatsworth and Hardwick. The opulence of her purple satin robe combines magnificence with comfort, as the velvet lining would have kept her warm and comfortable in her magnificent but lofty new apartments, which gave rise to the satirical rhyme ‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’.

Edward the carpenter

The creation and the maintenance of beautiful and elegant estates like Erddig, Wales, that once belonged to Philip Yorke I (1743–1804), often rested on the shoulders of craftspeople and his estate workers like Edward Prince (1719–1796). While Yorke was an antiquary and said to be 'one of the worst-dressed men in the country', Prince cut a more practical but stylish figure as the estate’s carpenter. This leather hat is said to be the one he was wearing when painted in front of the house by local artist John Walters in 1792. In the painting, he carries the tools that would have served him well in the timber yards of Erddig and wears a heavy leather apron. Although his hat adds a touch of formality, the rest of his outfit is designed for hard work.

Charles the collector

Most of us dream about an entire room dedicated to our most beloved and fashionable pieces of clothes, but if you’re an eccentric architect with a taste for whimsical, wonderful and weird historic dress, you don’t have to dream – you simply build one. Charles Paget Wade (1883–1956) purchased Snowshill Manor, a picturesque Cotswolds estate, in 1919, and spent years restoring it to house his enormous collection of national and international curiosities. Fashion was a huge part of this collection. From delicate 18^th century bonnets to precious East Asian robes, Paget Wade’s collection maps the evolving trade and craft of the global textile industry.

His wealth of dress and accessories did not simply stay on display. Paget Wade and his companions were known to wear the 18^th century gowns, bonnets, and even postillion boots around the grounds of Snowshill, capturing the merriment on the steps of the manor house in photographs like the one below.

Auguste the architect 

On a shelf at 2 Willow Road, the home of modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger (1902–1987), sits a rather elegant and unassuming grey felt hat. This belonged to Belgian architect Auguste Perret (1874–1954), who was famous for designing the Theatre du Champs-Elysees in Paris and reconstructing the French port of Le Havre after the catastrophes of the Second World War.

Goldfinger valued Perret as a mentor and friend and was greatly influenced by his style in his own work. After Perret’s widow gifted Goldfinger his hat after his death, it has sat here, a reminder to the working architect of the man whose work had inspired him so zealously. His hat was a fitting tribute; Perret once said that external cornices should sit: ‘like the hat on a man’s head’.

Beatrix the farmer

Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) is best known for the children’s tales she wrote, often of mischievous animals, set against the stunning vistas of the Lake District. But her life and work as a farmer in the landscape that she loved is just as significant a part of her legacy. Although she strove to protect the important cultural and local traditions of the Lake District, she was innovative in many ways, restoring her farms – and her flocks – so they ran effectively and efficiently. Hill Top was her first purchase in the Lakes, and a renovation project that she relished.

For her long walks across her land and her farms, Beatrix owned many successive pairs of durable leather clogs, made in the local town of Hawkshead by shoemaker Charles Brown. Always quick witted, Beatrix poked fun at herself in The Fairy Caravan (1929), where a sheep dog remarked: ‘Does Mistress Heelis really ever take her clogs off? I thought she went to bed in them?’ 

Fashion houses

There are so many synergies between the worlds of dress and architecture – not simply how these great builders and craftspeople fashioned their identities from the practical to the flamboyant, but also through the construction of a garment to house the body: in the patterns and compositions employed by dressmakers, couturiers and tailors across centuries. Both client and architect alike use their building projects to showcase creative individuality and leave within their fabric the hand and eye of their makers. Expression through fabric, cut, accessory and style of dress is a centuries-old way of showing oneself to the world, and, for many of us, a way to feel at home, warm and comfortable.

100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the Collections of the National Trust is an ode to how people have constructed themselves through their clothes over time – to work, to build, to create, to construct, and to enjoy themselves.

Find out more

• 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the Collections of the National Trust will be published on 4^th September 2025.
• National Trust Collections – Explore more treasures 

Read our earlier posts for more highlights from the Trust's collections:

• Can you believe what you see?
• 7 Beautiful Books
• Astounding inventions
• Let's bake!
• The first curious collections post