The Rose Grainger Costume Collection
The most valuable section of the Grainger Museum costume collection is that of Rose Grainger, Percy's mother. Drawing on this rich resource is the Grainger Museum's consultant curator, Elinor Wrobel, who, together with photographer Jim Sheldon, presents a unique portrait of a fiercely Australian woman.
Rose Grainger's attitude to costume was controlled by conscious considerations. On the one hand was her innate aesthetic sense, her 'taste', allied to her passionate worship of an ideal of physical beauty:
"Mother has 'taken her [Miss Permin, their lodger] in hand' with regard to dress, and instead of looking foursided & unfeminine there is now a softness about her & she looks years younger. I think mother has a lot of talent at getting people to look their best; she has always dressed me, both now and as a quite young boy, so that people have been impressed by me, and she understands how to dress herself as well. "
Percy Grainger to Karen Holten, 24 August 1909
On the other hand was her recognition and acceptance of clothing as a social and cultural convention and of the need for proper observance of this convention:
"... When we first settled in London & were living in Kensington (1902 or 03) fathers Scotch friend Mr Aytoun was spending the late afternoon with us. I had to go out somewhere (as always, MERELY for business, never for liking) & it was a question of whether I should put on evening dress or not. Mother advised me to, & I heard old Aytoun old-fogeying along with mother on these lines: "Yes, let the boy put on evening dress. Its good discipline for a young man", which immediately brought down on him mother's "I dont agree about that at all. I think evening dress is perfect nonsense, & I wouldnt like to see Percy fond of dressing up or otherwise being a namby-pamby. I only advised him to put it on tonight because I think it might be better for his career to do so". That was typical."
Percy Grainger, A Bird's-Eye View of the Together-Life of Rose Grainger and Percy Grainger, 399-23, 1947.
In Rose's hands rested the responsibility of steering not only herself but Percy through the elaborate clothing rituals of Edwardian social life and of ensuring that, despite the constraints of their income, the standard of their dress was always acceptable to a class whose clothes were always tailor made and whose social status was marked out, in part, by this distinction. Grainger's letters to Rose attest at once to the success with which she discharged this responsibility and to his complete dependence on her in this area of his life. So much so that for Grainger, the correctness of his clothing became part of the 'armour' in which he faced the rigours and hostilities of his daily life:
"And then a word about my clothes & things: I cant say how they comfort me & buoy me up, all the fine things you choose for me. I feel I go to my battles shielded by an invulnerable halo of gentlemanliness, good taste (your taste), indisputability. The things you choose, bright & pretty & happy & pukka, seem to me to express al I would wish [to] have expressed about me ... & present me in what is for me the ideal aspect. Every time I put my things on, "my furs", my browns, or grasp my music case, or recognise my bumbrello by its silver chee-an, the ever present warantee of mother & her good will & her brave support is like the snort of a battle-steed to me, & I feel an army behind me & myself a proper person, loved & bolstered up, & shot forth like a torpedo with expensive care ("your servants") & bound to hit the mark."
Percy Grainger to Rose Grainger, 19 December 1911