“Parallel Lives, Worlds Apart: from sugar plantations in Grenada to life at Court, and other stories from the costume at Paxton House”  is a new major costume exhibition which can be viewed as part of a house tour. The exhibition explores the parallel lives of several owners of Paxton House with those whose lives were intertwined – enslaved Africans, friends and family descendants. Paxton’s outstanding collection of costume includes rare, beautifully worked gentleman’s clothing worn at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1750, including, uniquely,  the only surviving fancy dress costume from The Berlin Carousel, a four day spectacle organised to celebrate Frederick the Great’s reign. Alongside, specially commissioned replica 18th and 19th century clothing is used to tell the real stories, researched from the archives, of those whose clothing has not survived, helping us understand the history of Paxton in context with the owners’ links with slavery.

1 April to 3 November 2023. All normal opening times. Book here

Supported by The Esmée Fairburn Collections Fund; Museums & Galleries Scotland; The Textile Society and The Art Fund.