THE Bowes Museum in County Durham has joined forces with the V&A and Bath Fashion Museum to save an important dress collection.
Nine stunning 1930s' evening dresses by Parisian fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet have been bought by the museums and will be split between them - with the Bowes Museum taking three.
Keeper of costume and textiles Joanna Hashagen said: "This is a first for us, as we have no examples of work by Vionnet and she is underrepresented in public collections in this country as a whole. There were certainly no examples of her work in museums in the North of England until now."