See inside Secrets of Dress at York Castle Museum with designs from Droopy & Browns and Vivien Smith

Take one scene-stealing exhibit, a flamboyant tiered dress made from panels of vibrant floral prints in purples, blues and reds, with a tier of bright yellow in the skirt, and with flounced sleeves that clasp at the wrist.

It was designed by Angela Holmes for Droopy & Browns, the legendary fashion brand she founded in York in the 1970s.

Angela was a fashion designer, entrepreneur, singer and performer. Born in Darlington in 1950, she moved to York in the early 1970s and began designing clothes to sell on York market. Her husband, Keith Wilkinson, translated her designs into patterns. In the late 1970s, she opened her first shop on Fossgate, followed by one on Stonegate, and then more shops in Edinburgh, London, Bath and Tunbridge Wells. She died in 2000 and is buried with Keith in York Cemetery.

Droopy & Browns closed in 2004 but its legacy lives on in its designs, which are still much sought after. The old and beautiful tiered dress dress has been donated by Angela’s sister, Leone Cockburn, and niece, Clare Cockburn. It was made in York, probably in the late 1970s. “It looks like cotton, but it's made of wool and the print is by Collier Campbell for Liberty of London,” says York Castle Museum’s curator of Social History (and curator of Secrets of Dress), Dr Faye Prior.

“This dress takes inspiration from the 1860s and the 1840s. She even included a little shawl called a pelerine that was very popular in that period.

“A lot of people have such powerful and emotive memories of the shop, because of the nice way they were treated by the people who worked there. The fantasy of shopping at Droopy & Browns seems to be a really big thing for people who remember the brand fondly.”

The Secrets of Dress exhibition is a showcase of fashion from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, exploring the cottage industries of old Yorkshire through to factory-produced fashions of the industrial age, and on to today, revealing along the way what clothing and accessories can tell us about the real lives of the people who wore and made them.

It takes over from the previous Shaping the Body exhibition at York Castle Museum. “We have a new section called York Makers,” says Dr Prior. “This is a celebration of costume, accessories and related items that were made in York.”

Another featured York designer that many will remember is Vivien Smith, who was born in Colchester in 1947 and moved to York as a teenager when her father was stationed at Strensall Barracks.

She began designing and making clothes in the 1960s, selling to boutiques in York, Harrogate, Leeds and London. In 1968, she opened Simply Clothes at 40a Micklegate. All her designs were made in York, at first by homeworkers paid by the outfit. Later she opened a factory at Hospitalfields Road, off Fulford Road. In 1981 Simply Clothes moved to Ousegate and Vivien also opened shops in Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Guildford, Hull, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield.

“It was also a national brand. It's quite interesting, we have these two women entrepreneurs,” says Dr Prior.

There are two Vivien Smith designs on display including a pink suit, dating from the late 1980s, which can be found in the 20th century case.

“We have a chronological display in four big cases,” says Dr Prior. “You don't have to go around it in any order. The idea is that you go in and follow your curiosity.

“We're trying to give people the experience of peeking behind the door of history, finding out interesting tidbits of information that can lead them on a little journey of discovery.”

There is a girl’s white dress that some people might recognise as a May Day dress for a maypole dancer, with this one originating in Stockton-on-Tees, last worn to celebrate the Coronation of George V in 1911.

“We've got nine of these in total, and they're all the same, but in different sizes,” says Dr Prior. “They date from 1890 to 1895. That's when they were first made but they were used year on year throughout the late 1890s.

“There are still techniques nowadays that you cannot do by machine, you have to do by hand, and one of them is cartridge pleating. This skirt is cartridge-pleated onto the bodice. It's what makes that really big, fluffy kind of look. We're trying to get people exploring the idea, how your clothes are made? Who makes them? How many people are involved in that?”

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A three-piece men's suit from around 1765 came from the Strickland-Constable family, possibly from Boynton Hall, near Bridlington. “It's woven silk with a lovely little pattern of flowers, and it's quite an interesting thing, because you look at it and you think maybe the pattern is feminine. That's how we would read it nowadays. But at the time, they would read it as, the pattern is rich person, and it's masculine.”

A woman’s cap called a coif is the oldest piece of clothing on display, dating from the 16th or early 17th century. Dr Prior says: “It’s made of linen and embroidered with silk thread and real gold. The metal sequins are original – sequins were very fashionable at the time.”

This is one of her favourite exhibits, as are some rare 17th century iron stays. “Very few sets survive worldwide, and this seems to reflect that very few were ever made,” she says.

“These are not a torture device, and they’re not something men forced women to wear. Evidence shows that some wealthy women commissioned iron stays from armourers or blacksmiths to help them achieve the fashionable look for their era and social class. Evidence suggests that iron stays were made to help with posture issues. Like all corsets, these would never have been worn next to the skin.”

There is armour dating from 1600-1640, which would have been worn by a cuirassier – a soldier who rode a horse and used a pistol. It was made for a follower of the Earl of Pembroke. Dr Prior says: “Commanders in that period had to pay for all of the armour for their subordinates. So it's got little letter Ps on the kneecaps, P for Pembroke.”

Secrets of Dress is at York Castle Museum, which is open Monday, from 11am to 5pm, and Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm. More details are available at yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk or 01904 687687. Tickets for York Castle Museum are £17 per adult and £10.20 per child, and concessions are available. Tickets are valid for 12 months. Children of York residents can attend for free.

The most modern piece in the exhibition is a Berwick Kaler costume, made in 2018, a visual treat for all those who saw any of the brilliant York pantomimes he created and starred in for 47 years.

Meanwhile, pupils from St Paul's School in Holgate have visited to see a sampler, in the York Makers case, by Maud Webster, who was a nine-year-old pupil at the school in the 1890s when she made it.

The exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to touch, feel and try on costumes recreated by local costume designer, Textiles by Gnomes, and there are family trails from Little Spotters Trails.

Dr Prior says: “The key message of this exhibition is that garments and accessories can help us learn about people's lives and experiences, revealing that people in the past have a lot in common with us today.”