Thomas Hardy's sister's bustle dress

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Thomas Hardy's sister's bustle dress to go on display at Dorchester museum

A FAMOUS dress worn by Thomas Hardy's sister will now be on display at Dorset County Museum.

The dress, worn by Hardy's sister Katherine, is part of a large collection donated to the museum more than 20 years ago, but the museum on High West Street will now be able to display the dress after securing additional funding from the Daphne Bullard Trust.

The collection will be on display in the writer's gallery at the museum.

The collection was first donated to the museum in 1984 but due to the nature of the clothes and the specialist mounting and display they required, the clothes had been kept in storage by the museum, but following a grant from the Daphne Bullard Trust, they will now be displayed.

Katherine Hardy's dress, which is the centrepiece of the display, is a red bustle dress that was first worn in the 1890s. It was originally made by Dorchester-based linen drapers Genge, Fixon and Jameson in 1889 and is now mounted upon a mannequin, and consists of a bodice and skirt in red grosgrain silk A spokesman for the museum said: “It is an evocative personal garment with a tight-fitting, fashionable bodice and skirt.

“With its luxurious red silk and bustle, it is similar to the fashionable dresses Tess wears in Tess of the d'Urbervilles when she is fleeing with her husband Angel Clare, having stabbed Alec d'Urberville.

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“Next to the dress is an illustration of Stonehenge showing Tess wearing a similar dress as she rests on a stone slab, awaiting arrest.

“Displaying the dress both safely and sympathetically was a complicated project. A particular consideration was Kate Hardy's large bust.

“She also had a very small waist and narrow shoulders so a special museum grade mannequin was purchased and adapted with additional padding in the relevant areas.”

The additional funding from the Daphne Bullard Trust has also allowed the museum to provide extra protection and support to the dress, with a petticoat and several layers of netting underneath.

The dress will be linked with an exhibition planned for 2019, Thomas Hardy: Fashion, Fact and Fiction, which will examine Hardy's work from a fashion perspective, interweaving costume with images, letters, literature and diaries.

It will be based around a core collection of items worn by Thomas Hardy and his family, fashionable dress and rural worker's clothing.