Mary Wilson launches frock-tastic exhibition

Oct 24 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

MARY Wilson will reign supreme again tonight as the Motown star launches a frock-tastic exhibition. Barbara Hodgson meets the singer – and you can too.

THEY were the epitome of glamour and as the 1960s revolutionised the fashion industry they were at its cutting edge.

They were pretty great singers too.

The Supremes – who initially formed as The Primettes in Detroit in 1959 – became one of Motown’s biggest acts, with hits such as Baby Love and Stop! In The Name of Love eclipsed only by the glitziness of their stage costumes.

Now that magical Motown glamour has arrived in the North East, at Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead to be exact where Mary Wilson, a founder member of the band alongside Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, is launching a seriously stylish exhibition.

The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson collection opens today, with a display of 50 sequinned, beaded and feathered gowns shown alongside memorabilia including shoes, records, archive footage and new video interviews, all set in the context of the Motown recording studio and against the backdrop of the American civil rights movement.

The dresses have the starring role of course, ranging from the band’s teen days as The Primettes to the Hollywood designs they wore at the height of their fame.

And tonight the Motown legend – and lucky owner of all those frocks – will be hosting a special Audience with Mary Wilson event - so buy yourself a ticket if you want her insider’s account of Motown magic.

“Sure, I remember wearing them all,” she said when I met her at the gallery yesterday. “We’d wear them maybe the first time for a TV appearance so after that couldn’t wear them on TV again so would tour and wear them on stage.”

Before their display – first in a US tour curated by The Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame and now brought to us from V&A in London – they were packed up in boxes, she confesses.

But now, each time she attends an opening of the touring show (and she is at them all), “I get a chance to relive it all over again”.

“And it’s nice here,” she says of the Shipley, “because you can get right up close with them – at the V&A they were behind glass.”

You do indeed get to see all the extraordinary detail in the costumes – some must have weighed a ton – which range from 60s fashions to 70s and are brought up to date with a nod to girl groups today.

“People might not realise it but they’re hand-made.”

And which is her favourite?

She has many, but she loves the one which is named ‘pink beaded’. Visitors can see it – in three-fold – on a revolving pedestal.