A historic photo exhibition will be dressed to impress at the end of this month with a display of vintage clothes
The outfits have been donated to the Forres Heritage Trust with a number of them currently on display in the Highland Hospice shop on Forres High Street.
But the outfits will be moved to the Tolbooth for the photographic exhibition which will take place from August 31 to September 3.
The Trust was given the dresses by Meg and John Mackenzie.
The couple were founder members of Forres Heritage Trust which was set up in 2010 and helped secure the purchase of the Tolbooth which the Trust now owns.
The couple’s hopes are that the clothes will eventually be sold with the proceeds being donated to the organisation.
Meg said: “We are delighted to be donating these vintage clothes to the Forres Heritage Trust. The ultimate aim is for them to be sold, but first we wanted to have them displayed so that the public can enjoy them.
“The flapper dresses were given to John by his godmother Bessie Hodsdon who had a shop in Forres High Street. Some of the items are over 100 years old and we’re hoping that there is someone out there who might be able to help us with more information about them or indeed be able to give us a value.”
Forres Heritage Trust, trustee Ainsley James has been collating the information about the collection and helped Mairi Skivington, manager of the Highland Hospice Shop create the window display.
Ainsley said: “This is such a wonderful donation from Meg and John and we have enjoyed learning a little about the items. The craftmanship in the dresses is impressive. Meg and John are clearly an important part of the Trust’s history so we are delighted to be able to display the items on their behalf. We were even able to find a picture from the early 1960s of Gordon the Drapers shop window on Forres High Street which shows one of the outfits that we have been given. This is also on display in the Hospice window. A big thank you needs to go to Mairi and her team at the Highland Hospice shop who have helped us create a striking window display before the costumes are then moved to form part of the photographic display.”
Mairi added: “I’ve enjoyed working with Ainsley and the beautiful dresses. So many customers and passers by admire them. It’s been a wonderful project to work on.”
The Historic Photographic Exhibition will take place in the Tolbooth from Wednesday, August 31 to Saturday September 3 between 10am and 4pm.
Entry is £2 and there will be a raffle and tea and coffee available in the court room.