THE FLAVOUR of the East comes to the West with one of the most stunning exhibitions of festival costumes Hampshire has ever seen.

The visually spectacular costumes from the Guizhou province of south west China are on show for the first time in the UK in this wonderful new exhibition at Eastleigh Museum.

The stunning display, from the private collection of expert, Gina Corrigan, showcases magnificent embroidered and decorated festival costumes and highlights the traditional textile skills of some of China's poorest minority people.

Also on display are a wonderful range of Gina's stunning photographs that illustrate the landscape, the people and their craft processes and the fast-disappearing traditional textile skills demonstrated in the exhibition.

A spokesman for Eastleigh Museum, said: "The use of colour and design is often theatrical; the skills of spinning, weaving, dyeing, wax-resist and pleating, passed down through the generations, are remarkable, and the range of embroidery skills and combination of different techniques within one item, make these costumes particularly fascinating."

Some of the items on display include jackets, baby carriers, shoes, leg wrappings, skirts, aprons, headwear and jewellery, which are all samples of work of the Dong, Bouyei, Yi, Shui and other Chinese minority groups.

The exhibition also highlights that many of these amazing skills are beginning to disappear, as rapid social changes affect many aspects of life in China.

The Faraway Festival Costumes exhibition is free and opens this weekend at Eastleigh Museum until August 19.

For more information and opening times visit www.hants.gov.uk/museum/eastlmus/.