taffeta : n. a fine, lustrous plain-woven silk or silk-like fabric, characteristically crisp.
[Middle English from old French taffetas or medieval Latin taffata , ultimately Persian, tãftah ,
past part. of tãftan ‘twist']

It was particularly fitting to  hold a meeting in Liverpool during it's celebrations as the European Capital of Culture. The city was ablaze with exhibitions and events in every corner.

We met at the Metropolitan Cathedral, a two-thirds of a mile walk from Lime Street Station. While this modern building has much to recommend it, we experienced some very different era's of history. Peter Farrer described how he became interested in this particular fabric, it's nature and development through time. His slides of taffeta's and satins document clothing from the seventeenth century to the present day, interspersed with dialogue from fashion journals, memoirs and novels of the appropriate periods, to illustrate the recurring vogue for taffeta over the centuries.

After a break for lunch, Peter showed us his own garment collection which includes various examples of Victorian petticoats through to eveningwear from the 1930's to the early 1980's.