POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Womens camisole worn by Olive Allen

Object No. 85/209-29

This white cotton hand-embroidered camisole was owned and worn by Olive Allen (1896-1984) and purchased in Paris or England while the Allen family were living in London. Olive Allen was the daughter of Lizzie Florence Fryer and Christopher Richard P Allen, a wealthy merchant from Townsville, Queensland. This camisole (also known as a corset cover) is part of a large collection of high-quality day and evening wear, underwear and accessories worn by Olive Allen between 1910 and 1930, providing insight into her personal taste and leisured lifestyle. Allen’s family lived in Sydney, where she attended various local schools. When her father died in 1911, Allen’s mother took her and her younger brother, Frederick, to live in England. Allen had finished her formal education and remained in London with her mother, living in various hotels. Family history taken from Allen’s diaries and recollections show that she enjoyed a cosmopolitan lifestyle, taking music lessons, writing to her brother and shopping in large department stores where she purchased the latest fashions and accessories. While the family based themselves in London, they also travelled extensively through Europe, often in a Rolls Royce, spending winters in Switzerland and springs in Paris, where this camisole may have been purchased. In 1928 the family returned to live in Sydney, where they built their home in Bellevue Hill. Allen lived in this home until her death in 1984. Womens fashionable dress in the 19th and early 20th centuries was shaped, supported and protected by multiple layers of undergarments ranging from the corset, chemise and petticoats to stockings, drawers and bustles. In the 1840s, the corset cover was introduced to help keep the expensive and hard-to-wash corset clean. It was also used to modestly hide the top of the corset from showing below the neckline of low-cut evening dresses. By the end of the century, camisoles were often paired with matching knickers or petticoats. Reflecting changing styles and new technologies, the Edwardian camisole was highly decorative and featured machine-made lace, embroidery and pintucks. By the 1920s, when Allen purchased this camisole, the frilly layers of Edwardian dress had given way to a simple streamlined silhouette. The sleek line and minimal embellishment of this piece reflects this new fashion. Rox De Luca, Curatorial Assistant, and Glynis Jones, Curator References Muriel Barbier and Shazier Boucher, The Story of Women’s Underwear (Volume 2), Parkstone International, 2010 Phillis Cunnington and Cecil Willett Cunnington, The History of Underclothes, Michael Joseph Ltd Books, 1951 Elizabeth Ewing, Underwear: A History, Theatre Art Books, 1972 Eleri Lynn, Underwear: Fashion in Detail, V&A Publishing, London, 2010