Summary

Complete wedding costume worn by actor Matt Wilson as Aaron Brennan in the Australian television series Neighbours in 2018.

Worn during his onscreen wedding to David Tanaka (Takaya Honda), which is significant as the first representation of a same-sex wedding on an Australian drama program. The storyline was devised before the marriage equality plebiscite was held, with the decision to film it whatever the result was and include this in the episode.

As is the practice of the Neighbours wardrobe department, the majority of the pieces were sourced locally, representing the popular wedding styles and labels of Melbourne grooms in the late 2010s.

Physical Description

Fourteen piece wedding ensemble, consisting of: a Peter Jackson grey check two piece suit, a Thomas Pink white shirt, a Peter Jackson red silk tie, a pocket square, a Ben Sherman navy belt, a pair of Jeffrey West navy shoes, an artificial corsage, a pair of cuff links, a pair of socks and a small plastic Costume Accessories box.

Significance

This ensemble was collected under the Creativity sub-collection of Leisure and Social Spaces plan, due to its representation of the work and creativity that goes into local television production, as well as the ongoing debate about both onscreen and behind the scenes diversity and representation, the Neighbourhood Life sub-collection of the Home and Community Life Plan, due to the on screen representation of suburban life and its associated rituals, and Clothing and Textile plan, through its representation of local design and manufacture and rites of passage sub-collections, as well as adding to the small collection of menswear we have, particularly contemporary.

This acquisition consists of four wedding outfits, include the two grooms from the first onscreen same sex wedding on Australian television in 2018, and the bride and groom in the first onscreen wedding of a transgender character in 2022. Although they are both fictitious events, they would have been the first experience that many people had of diversity in marriage, and the positive effects of marriage equality.

They are significant acquisitions to the Museum's collections because:

(1) They represent the output of and the creative input that goes into making and broadcasting a program such as Neighbours, which has been produced in Melbourne for over 37 years. Weddings are a perennial staple of the soap opera genre, so these four outfits are a perfect way to represent this aspect of the show. Along with the associated documentation that will be collected in the near future, they represent the thought process and the design and manufacturing skills that go into costuming a filmed production, even something deceptively simple as a contemporary drama series.

(2) They represent the shift in representation of the actors and characters that the program has presented, particularly over the last decade. The production, like most Australian television program has been under increased pressure to diversify the cast and the characters, as well as those behind the scenes, so the presentation of a same-sex wedding and a wedding between a transgender woman and a cis male character, both the first on Australian television, can be seen as positive steps forward.

(3) They also help diversify the collections of Museums Victoria, increasing representation of sexually diverse people, particularly their representation in the media.It is especially important as one of our few acquisition representing the transgender community, something which is important and needs to be improved in the future.

Acquiring them at this time is beneficial for us as it enables the complete ensembles to be collected, which is often not the case when parts of a costume get dispersed after use, especially as time passes. We also have the opportunity to interview the costume department staff about the costume selection and any modifications done to them, and the actors as what it was like wearing them and how they assisted with the development of character and the storylines of the program. Additional documentation, such as ephemera related to the weddings, and photographic and film film documentation will be requested from Fremantle Media to be part of a future acquisition.

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