The Most Fashionable Time Machine – Victoria Museum
Welcome to the living legacy of the Victorian era – the Victoria Museum. Founded and curator Victoria Lysenko has spent years culminating her high-class collection of historic wardrobe items, including dresses and jewellery. These timeless treasures allow for a small glimpse into the past.
Museum Victoria contains around 100 authentic full outfits and nearly 600 garments that seem to have stepped straight out of history. Equally charming and alluring, it’s easy to lose several hours browsing the regal beauty. The diversity is overwhelming, there are ball gowns, wedding dresses, hats, casual footwear, gloves, canes, opera glasses, brooches and many other accessories. Victoriya Lysenko hopes that her museum will become Kyiv’s cultural centre in the near future.
If you need a bit of convincing, take a look at these:
1) Wedding Dress of Martha Yocum, 1913
This dress belonged to Martha Mears Yocum Canfield. It is made of champagne coloured silk, decorated with guipure lace. Check out the bodice which is beautifully decorated with fashionable artificial pearls.
2) Summer Frock Coat, 1904-1917
A double-breasted white summer coat with lapels and three-star epaulets. Under it, there is a shirt with a starched stand-up turned-down collar and a necktie. The cutting and design of this model are similar to the military uniform, varying only in details.
3) Promenade Dress in Balmoral Style, 1850-1865
The Balmoral style received its name from its place of origin — Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This dress is the perfect example of the abovementioned style. It is made of silk taffeta with a national tartan pattern in a natural terracotta colour.
The museum is open from 11:00 to 19:00 and is closed on Mondays and Sundays. The price is 65 UAH for students, 130 UAH for adults and 190 UAH for couples. You can get tickets online using this link. The museum’s address is Butyshiv Ln 23 and the nearest metro station is Arsenalna. You can visit the museum’s official site for more information.
