Spring 2012 - Dress and Textile Specialists

DATS
Dress and Textile Specialists
Spring Journal 2012

Contents
Page
Committee 3
Conference 2012 4
DATS Conference & Papers 2011 4
News & Events 39
Exhibitions 43
New Books 47
Front cover image: detail of pink silk bodice dating to the 1650s embroidered with a feather design
in black bugle beads.
Image courtesy of Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester
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DATS Committee 2012
Chair
Christine Stevens
e-mail christine.stevens@newcastle.ac.uk
Treasurer
Danielle Sprecher
Leeds Museums and Galleries
Discovery Centre
Carlisle Road
Leeds LS10 1LB
Tel: 0113 214 1557
e-mail: d_sprecher@yahoo.com
Newsletter Editor
Alex Ward
Assistant Keeper
Art and Industrial Division
National Museum of Ireland
Collins Barracks
Dublin 7
Ireland
Tel: 00 353 1 6486469
e-mail: award@museum.ie
SSN Officer
Jenny Lister
Curator, 19 th Century Textiles and Fashion
Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion
Victoria & Albert Museum
South Kensington
London SW7 2RL
Tel: 020 7942 2665
e-mail: j.lister@vam.ac.uk
Secretary
Rebecca Quinton
Curator, European Costume and Textiles
Glasgow Museums
Burrell Collection
2060 Pollokshaws Road
Glasgow G43 1AT
Tel: 0141 287 2571 (Wednesday - Friday)
Email: rebecca.quinton@glasgowlife.org.uk;
rebecca.quinton@glasgow.ac.uk
Membership Secretary
Ruth Battersby Tooke
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service Shirehall
Market Avenue
Norwich NR1 3JQ
Tel: 01603 223873 (Tuesday - Friday)
email: ruth.battersbytooke@norfolk.gov.uk
Web Editor
Kate Reeder
Social History Curator
Beamish North of England Open Air Museum
Beamish
Co. Durham DH9 0RG
Tel: 0191 370 4009
e-mail: katereeder@beamish.org.uk
National Museums Representative/London
Beatrice Behlen
Senior Curator, Fashion and Decorative Arts
Museum of London
150 London Wall
London EC2Y 5HN
e-mail: bbehlen@museumoflondon.org.uk
Conservation Representative
Ann French
Conservator (Textiles)
The Whitworth Art Gallery
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M15 6ER
Tel: 0161 275 7485
e-mail: ann.french@manchester.ac.uk
South East England Representative
Veronica Issac
Curatorial Assistant
Department of Theatre and Performance
Victoria & Albert Museum
South Kensington
London SW7 2RL
e-mail: v.isaac@vam.ac.uk
Keeper of Costume (maternity cover until Oct)
Chertsey Museum
e-mail: veronica.isaac@runnymede.gov.uk
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South West England Representative
Currently vacant
North of England Representative
Caroline Whitehead
Email: cs.whitehead@tiscali.co.uk
East of England Representative
Ruth Battersby Tooke
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service Shirehall
Market Avenue
Norwich NR1 3JQ
Tel: 01603 223873 (Tuesday - Friday)
email: ruth.battersbytooke@norfolk.gov.uk
Ireland Representative
Valerie Wilson
Curator (Textiles),
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum,
Cultra
Holywood
Co. Down BT18 0EU
Tel: 028 9039 5167
Email: Valerie.Wilson@nmni.com
Scotland Representative
Rebecca Quinton
Curator, European Costume and Textiles
Glasgow Museums
Burrell Collection
2060 Pollokshaws Road
Glasgow G43 1AT
Tel: 0141 287 2571 (Wednesday - Friday)
Email: rebecca.quinton@glasgowlife.org.uk
Wales and Midlands Representative
Althea Mackenzie
Hereford Heritage Services
Museum Learning and Resource Centre
58 Friar Street
Hereford HR4 0AS
Tel: 01432 383033
Email: amackenzie@herefordshire.gov.uk;
althea.mackenzie@nationaltrust.org.uk;
DATS Conference 2012, The Burrell Collection, Glasgow,
8 th & 9 th November
The Autumn conference is being at The Burrell Collection in Glasgow on the 8 th and 9 th November
2012, with the probability of an add on day on Saturday 10 th for a visit to another museum. The
suggested themes of the 2012 conference are, “Collaborations” and “Working in Partnerships” .
Further details will be circulated when confirmed, via the DATS email group and the website.
____
DATS Conference 2011
The 2011 DATS Conference was held in York and the theme was Unlocking the Wardrobe – access to
collections – intellectual, virtual and physical. During the conference delegates were given tours of
the York Castle Museum Stores, the Quilt Museum and Gallery as well as a visit to Fairfax House to
see the exhibition, Revolutionary Fashion . The addition of a third day to the schedule allowed for a
very well attended day trip to the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, where Joanna Hashagen
introduced delegates to the new Fashion and Textile Gallery and Janet Wood spoke about the
development of the unique acrylic mounts created for it. Annabel Talbot gave an overview of her
work on the Blackbourne Lace project in the Fashion and Textile Gallery’s Glass Study Cube.
2011 Conference Papers
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Effective Collections – making the most of the Herbert's costume collection,
Ali Wells, Keeper of Collections, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Background
The Herbert has recently undergone a £20million redevelopment with 8 new permanent galleries
and 3 temporary exhibition spaces opening in October 2008.
Since then many of the objects have been re-housed in new stores and in 2009 we carried out a
collections review. The curatorial team looked at completeness of the collection, potential for
creative use, potential for loans, priority for evaluation for disposal as well as documentation and
storage. This highlighted the strengths and weakness across the museum. In the costume, textiles
and Coventry silk weaving collection there are about 8000 items of regional significance. The
costume's strength is in women's dresses from 1800 to 1980 but it has relatively little use compared
to its size.
It was recognising the underuse and potential of the costume collection that led us to apply to the
Museums Association (MA) and Esmée Fairburn Foundation funding stream, Effective Collections.
Effective Collections funded museums proposing new and innovative ways of making better use of
their stored collections through loans, transfers and alternative forms of disposal. In June 2010 we
received £10k for the project.
The project
From our collections review we knew that the costume collection was well documented and its
strengths well known so during the initial phase we focussed on a conservation assessment of key
parts of the collection. I worked with a local freelance textile conservator, Victoria Allan, in our
stores and we highlighted areas where the storage could be improved. At this time we also recruited
a project assistant who worked with us for a year.
Outcome 1 - temporary exhibition
We had about 4 months to develop and deliver a temporary exhibition. All Dressed Up looked at
evening and occasion wear from 1890s, 1920s, 1950s.
We used Effective Collections money to purchase 12 new mannequins and a beaded dress was
prepared for display by a textile conservator.
To date it has been our most popular exhibition in that space with over 10,000 visitors in 10 weeks.
The biggest criticism was that at 14 mannequins there just weren't enough dresses on display!
The exhibition was supported by a costume study day which looked at dresses and accessories in
detail with a small group. Similar sessions had previously been delivered using a private collection
but this project encouraged us to use our own collections.
Outcome 2 - loans
We worked with two local museums with small costume collections.
Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery has a strong and regularly changing temporary exhibition
programme. We decided the best way forward was to support gaps in temporary exhibitions such as
their Blitz commemoration exhibition and touring All Dressed Up to them.
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum have very few collections-based temporary exhibitions and limited
space in their permanent galleries, so the project funded a case which would take one dress at a
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time and is located in their reception area. It was built by their technician for about £500 and the
dress will change four times a year. The curator said 'everyone is thrilled with [the dress] and the
display case… little things or steps can make a huge difference over here'.
Although the National Trust was not in our original bid we identified them as a good match with
strengths in our collection. We are working towards loans to local (and not so local!) properties.
Outcome 3 - training
We felt strongly that sharing skills was an important outcome of the project. We delivered a session
on costume handling, storage, transport and display to in-house learning and inclusion staff and as
well as our partners.
Outcome 4 - assessment criteria
Possibly the most important part of the project was developing assessment criteria for the use of our
collections. The core principle is that the Herbert has a good collection which should be used –
especially as it is not a unique collection.
Working with a textile conservator I went through the collection identifying what could be used and
in what kind of way.
Which dress should we use? By identifying this project we were acknowledging the importance of
giving visitors the opportunity to interact with high quality historic costume. Any use of museum
costume involves calculated risk, even if it is going on display in a showcase. We believe that
handling costume does not mean the dress would be worn or it would be handled to destruction.
Each item is assessed individually and within context of our whole collection.
There are four key factors to consider
1. duplication - how many dresses do we have from a period? For example with only have one
example of the 'oriental opulence' style from about 1910, so we reserve this dress for display only.
2. suitability for display - if, for example, a dress is in too poor a condition for display it should be
prioritised for other uses such as a study piece for design and construction.
3. how robust it is - by considering materials, construction and treatment some items will lend
themselves better for close study or handling. However we don't want to assign all our cotton
dresses for handling just because they are more robust than silk ones, this factor must be considered
within the context of the collection.
4. what we can afford to take more risks with - Objects with no provenance or connection to
Coventry are less relevant to our collection and should be considered for more varied uses before
ones with a Coventry connection.
What to do with the dress? There are different grades of use, each with their risks and benefits.
These include display, hanging on rail for group inspection, examining closely on a table, passing it
around small group.
Precautions are always put in place to minimise the risk to the object for example flat textiles on a
board, giving handling training, wearing gloves or using clear boxes to allow close examination of
items without touching them.
We would also asses where the costume is being taken, especially for outreach and loans. We can
then reduce risk at the venue e.g. shutting curtains, asking for constant invigilation.
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This assessment method could be applied to any kind of collection.
Outcome 5 - handling resources
Once separate, our Learning collection is now much more integrated with the main collection.
Objects can move back and forth between the main collection and Learning's but always in
discussion with the curatorial staff.
The project worker developed a handling collection for a fashion session. Some items will be
permanently in the handling box but others will stay in the main collection and will be 'on loan' to
Learning for the event. This session was offered for a limited period (Herbert Fashion Week!) and
was very successful, we plan to run the session again in September.
Working with our Social Inclusion team we created handling boxes based on technique (e.g. lace,
embroidery) to target local Further Education and Higher Education tutors. To date the take up has
been poor, probably due to reduced budgets making off site visits not viable. These boxes will be a
useful resource for any staff wanting to do object handling.
Initially we planned to create handling boxes to use with other groups but the assessment criteria
has been more useful and has given the confidence to use the entire collection in more daring ways
at events such as Museums at Night and International Women’s Day.
Outcome 6 – collections work using volunteers
We have been primarily working with NADFAS volunteers who have created base garments for
dresses displayed in temporary exhibitions and padded hangers, have been documenting and
repacking our boxed textiles/costume and are currently mounting our samplers onto padded boards.
Secondary project
We were one of a small number of projects who were successful in getting a further £5k to deliver
additional outcomes identified by the project. For us this was to work with Coventry University to
develop the collection as a teaching resource for fashion students.
We liaised with tutors to develop tailored sessions on the history, design and construction of
costume and textiles which would make use of items from the collection.
Firstly we supported third year fashion students in their module Postmodern Androgyny. The project
worker developed a lecture that covered fashion history and social context from 1820 to 1960 and
illustrated it with dresses from collection.
We also developed a lecture on the history of fashion using items from the collection ready to
deliver to college and first year university students. This complements their courses as they mainly
focus on contemporary fashion.
Conclusion
The project has fitted in with the MA’s vision for the funding and we have been sharing it at different
forums. We can use this experience in other parts of the collection and disseminate it to other
museums. Before this project we had been investing a lot of resources in storing and looking after an
important collection which, through Effective Collections, is now fulfilling its potential.
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_____
Trowbridge Museum Textile and Weaving Festival 2011 -
Museum Assistant
Sarah Jane Kenyon,
Trowbridge Museum is housed in Salter’s Mill and is a Grade 11 listed
building, which was constructed 1850. The Museum is also incorporated into
The Shires Shopping Centre which along with the Museum opened in 1990.
The Museum is the only Museum in the West Country with comprehensive
displays telling the story of the once dominant, but now vanished West
Country woolen cloth industry.
In its heyday, Trowbridge’s success in textile production was such that it
became known as the ‘Manchester of the West’.
(copyright Trowbridge Museum)
Textile and Weaving Festival aims:
• To highlight the historic impact that weaving
and textile production had on Trowbridge.
• Raise awareness of current weaving and work
of contemporary textile artists.
• Bring more of the public into contact with
Trowbridge’s rich textile history.
(copyright Trowbridge Museum)
Community involvement: Partnerships were developed with the community of Trowbridge.
• Wiltshire College.
• Fabric Magic.
• Trowbridge Library.
• Bath Spa University.
Budget: The project was generously sponsored by:
Wiltshire Council Museums Project Fund, Bath Spa University, Wiltshire College, Fabric Magic and
Trowbridge Town Council. Total cost £1,200
The festival included a fabulous programme of free events:
6 Exhibitions.
2 Lectures.
A guided historic weaving walk.
Various Spinning demonstrations from the Wiltshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers at
Trowbridge Library and Trowbridge Museum.
‘The Big Weave’– visitors has the opportunity to take part in producing cloth.
Events during Heritage Open Days to highlight the wealth of heritage the museum has to
offer.
A selection of fun children’s activities, including a weaving with words poetry workshop.
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Mad Hatter Knitting
‘The Big Weave’ Copyright Sarah Jane
Kenyon
Access to the Collection: ‘Live Project’ with Wiltshire College
Museum Study Day:
To observe the collection through drawing and photography.
To view items from the Archive Collection.
The project had a theme based on 3 prominent figures and the associated museum collections:
Sir Isaac Pitman (shorthand).
Thomas Usher (brewing).
George Crabbe (fossils, poetry, religion).
Final outcomes after 9 weeks:
Exhibition at Trowbridge Museum, Copyright Sarah Jane Kenyon
As part of the BTEC Diploma course each student was required to produce.
A sketchbook.
Presentation boards.
An ‘A’ line skirt.
A textile piece using print and stitch.
A series of digital patterns.
Access To The Collection: Old, But New
A project developed with 3rd year Bath Spa Creative Arts Students. 3 Students viewed
museum objects on display and from the Archive collection.
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The result was a body of creative work playing with the idea of old and new. Contemporary
work was displayed alongside museum objects to appear as though it was part of the
collection and not new contemporary work.
Contemporary work by Kate Ward, Copyright Sarah Jane Kenyon
Access To The Collection: Old, But New at Fabric Magic
A partnership was developed with Fabric Magic on Silver Street, in Trowbridge. Bath Spa students
had access to their shops windows for 3 weeks, to display Old, But, New.
Contemporary work by Sarah Finch, Copyright Sarah Jane Kenyon
Festival debuted in an International Exchange of Fabric
2 Photographs from Leer Museum
Trowbridge is twinned with Leer in North West Germany and Elbag in Northern Poland. Leer had a
history of flax growing and linen manufacture, started by the Mennonites. Elbag is home to the
British Eastland Company from the 16th century onwards and was the primary port of entry for
English woolen cloth, including West of England cloth.
To symbolize this shared textile heritage, Leer Museum sent Trowbridge Museum linen cloth and 2
photographs, also a piece of Trowbridge woolen cloth was “exported” to Elbag Museum.
‘AND SEW TO READ’ at Trowbridge Lending Library
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An exhibition from the Embroiderer's Guild, Frome and District Branch, displayed at Trowbridge
Lending Library.
Work was inspired by the 25th anniversary.
A theme of book titles.
Use of silver thread to present the anniversary.
With kind permission from Trowbridge Lending Library
CRAFT ACTIVITES:
Copyright Trowbridge Museum
Copyright Trowbridge Museum
Outcome: Programme of FREE EVENTS
Publicity for the Museum by promoting heritage.
Access to the collection not on display.
Creating exhibitions beyond the Museum.
Passing on skills: How to make cloth, Rag Rug Brooch, Felting, Weaving.
Building partnerships with the community- Fabric Magic, Trowbridge Library, Leer Museum,
Elbag Museum.
_____
Collection access strategies at the Fashion Museum, Bath - Elly Summers and Elaine
Uttley, Fashion Museum Collections Assistants
The Fashion Museum holds a world-class collection of historic and contemporary fashionable dress
and is designated as a collection of outstanding significance. The collection numbers well in excess of
70,000 objects, and the museum is visited by over 100,000 people each year. Most visitors to the
Museum are tourists to Bath and it is this fortuitous siting in a World Heritage city, a place that
people seek to visit, that has shaped our current collection access practice. We have decided to
eschew the pursuit of an on-line catalogue of the collection and instead, concentrate our resources
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on making sure that people can see the actual objects; moreover, that we can listen and talk to
visitors to make sure that we understand their needs, and can respond to them.
Our paper will explore this practise by showcasing principally, three areas of our current endeavour.
First, our displays, particularly, Behind the Scenes: The Historic Collection where our collections of
19th century dress are presented as if visitors were entering the museum store. Secondly, and
leading on from this, storage of our collections and the way in which we are making our stores
accessible. Thirdly, we will discuss the development of the Fashion Museum Study Facilities, which
are currently visited by over 1,200 people each year.
Background to the collection
One of the reasons we were so keen to attend the DATS conference this year was to achieve our aim
of spreading the word about the Fashion Museum and introducing as many people as possible to the
collection. The Fashion Museum is housed in the historic Assembly Rooms on Bennett Street. For
centuries Bath has been a centre of fashion, attracting visitors to its spa and social diversions. The
Assembly Rooms is one of Bath’s finest Georgian buildings and is still central to the city’s social life
today.
Bath's magnificent 18th century Assembly Rooms were opened in 1771. Designed by John Wood the
Younger, they were known as the New or Upper Rooms, to distinguish them from the older
Assembly Rooms in the lower part of the town. An ‘assembly’ was defined in 1751 as ‘a stated and
general meeting of the polite persons of both sexes, for the sake of conversation, gallantry, news
and play’, which basically meant that guests amused themselves at cards, danced in the ballroom,
drank tea or just walked around talking and flirting.
The Fashion Museum came to Bath as the Museum of Costume in 1963. It was founded by Doris
Langley Moore, an inspired collector, writer, historian and costume designer who was passionate
about fashions of the past and who generously gave her private collection of historic dress to the
city of Bath. The Museum of Costume actually found its first home in 1955 at Eridge Castle in Kent, a
little outside London. At Eridge Castle, Doris Langley Moore established her particular style of
costume display, which was to display her collection on ‘realistic’ mannequins.
Doris Langley Moore believed that you needed to understand the context of the dress, something
that we still strive for today at the Fashion Museum, albeit in different ways. In the mid-1950s
however, this was not the usual approach to the display of dress within a museum, where more
often than not, dress was viewed solely as a textile and as a branch of the decorative arts. The
Museum of Costume remained at Eridge Castle for three years, and in 1958 was transferred to the
Royal Pavilion in Brighton for a special exhibition. But eventually in 1963, the Museum of Costume
found its permanent home in the newly re-opened Assembly Rooms in Bath.
The museum was called the Museum of Costume, Bath until the name change in 2007. It was a big
decision to change the name of the museum and one we only undertook following careful audience
evaluation and testing. The feeling was that ‘Fashion’ rather than ‘Costume’ was a better fit with the
museum collection and with visitor expectation; and it has been a seamless and successful
adjustment in our identity.
The Fashion Museum galleries are on the lower ground floor of the Assembly Rooms. The displays
are arranged (by and large, chronologically) in a series of non-uniform showcases following a
labyrinthine route. There are currently just over 180 figures on display, plus displays of accessories.
There are also feature areas within the museum galleries that present dress thematically. For
example in 2011, we have a display of wedding dress, and in 2012, the year of the Olympics, there
will be a display of fashion and sportswear.
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This special exhibition will examine the close connection between active sportswear and fashion by
showcasing examples of historic sportswear from the museum collection alongside modern fashions
and the very best of today’s sportswear. Highlights will include a cream wool suit with red and blue
stripes worn by a member of the Park Tobogganing Club in London in the 1880s, the winning catsuit
worn by Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams, at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 and a gold
and silver catsuit inspired by active sportswear, by designer Pam Hogg who has created second skin
stage-wear for pop star Jessie J.
Our aim in the gallery displays is that there is something there for everyone. Everyone may not like
everything, but we hope that every visitor will find something of interest or of enjoyment. We aim
for engagement, at many different levels so as to take account of the interests of many different
visitors. The displays in the galleries are aimed at showcasing, sharing, presenting and interpreting
the collection; and, arguably, it is the collection upon which the whole action and purpose of the
Fashion Museum stands.
We cannot put an exact figure on the number of objects in the collection as we are still working on a
project that started just over 20 years ago to create a database listing for each object. As the years
have gone by, the format of the database has changed, but the project continues. As of the end of
October 2011, the total number of object records on our Micromusée collection management
database stands at 57, 558, testimony to the hard work and dedication of the many people who
have worked on the project. We continue the work, and our best guess at this stage is that the total
number of items in the collection will be in excess of 80,000 objects.
What we can say, and with certainty, is that the collection includes fashionable dress for men and for
women from the 18 th , the 19 th and the 20 th centuries, with good collections of exquisite Elizabethan
and Jacobean embroideries, plus work from cutting edge 21 st century fashion designers. The
collection also includes accessories to dress, photographs, prints & drawings, magazines and archive
collections. Our approach to collecting is what could be described as ‘passive’ collecting: we do not
have a purchase grant and must rely on donations to the collection. However, we do select from
what we are offered. The decisions are of course, all subjective, but we hope that they are subjective
in an informed and thoughtful way, mindful of the nature and identity of the Fashion Museum, and
the visitors and users whom we serve.
Our Dress of the Year collection is an exception, and allows us an avenue of ‘targeted’ collecting.
Since the scheme began in 1963 under Doris Langley Moore, each year the Fashion Museum has
asked a fashion expert to choose an outfit that they feel sums up the mood or look for that year. The
selected outfit becomes part of the Dress of the Year collection, a roll call of the most famous names
in international fashion. The collection includes the work of top designers who have made the
headlines and set the trends in fashion, including notable contemporary designers such as Giles,
whose giant knit scarf ensemble was chosen as Dress of the Year 2007 and British doyenne of
fashion, Dame Vivienne Westwood, whose pale olive green ribbed shot silk dress was selected as
Dress of the Year in 2010.
Fashion Museum displays
One of the key ways in which all museums make their objects accessible is through display. We have
two guiding display principles at the Fashion Museum: firstly, that the gallery should have changes of
pace and focus (rather like a magazine); and secondly, that the displays as a whole should have a
chronological backbone, but interspersed with thematic feature displays. Equally, the way in which
we display our objects through choice of mannequin and styling has a great impact on the way in
which they are interpreted, understood and enjoyed by our visitors. One of our Rootstein
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mannequins used to display 1960s fashions for example, has a very 1960s face, a pretty good match
for Twiggy – but whether this is an original Rootstein Twiggy, we can’t be sure. Either way, by using a
mannequin with the right look for 1960s fashions, we hope to make our displays engaging.
There are a number of different styles of mannequins in our displays. Much of our historic
collections are displayed on ‘tailors’ dummy’ style figures, which allows for figures to be altered to fit
the changes in the fashionable silhouette. Fashion mannequins are then used to display our more
modern collections. In fact Adel Rootestein Display Mannequins have donated a figure to the
Fashion Museum for the Dress of the Year selection every year since the scheme started in 1963.
Over the past few years our mannequins have been given their distinctive hair and make-up by
fashion writer and stylist, Iain R. Webb. The success of our recent displays is thanks in no small part
to Iain, and the partnership working that has evolved between us. Iain spends hours, literally hours,
in an area of the museum known as Room 53 (none of us can remember why!) with his paints, make
up and our tawdry collection of ‘props’ wigs to work his styling magic on our collection of ageing
mannequins.
Our popular ‘Top Trends’ displays present the five top catwalk trends for either Autumn/Winter or
Spring/Summer. Styled by Iain using historical pieces from the collection, these are the looks that
you will find in fashion magazines and on the High Street. The display for Top Trends Autumn/Winter
2010 showcased the five major trends of the season – Ladylike; Protect and Survive; Festival Spirit;
Pure Classics; and Fancy Dress. Iain is also responsible for the styling of our Helmut Lang display. As
many of you know, recreating a catwalk look on a museum mannequin is no mean feat, but with our
army of figures all carefully primped and preened (and some even with temporary tattoos!), we feel
we are now providing visitors with a more stylish portrayal of our contemporary fashions.
Our display strategies are formulated to help us achieve our aim of displaying the collection in a
lively and engaging way so as to be attractive to our broad visitor base, some of whom may know a
great deal about fashion and some of whom may not only know nothing, but also not be particularly
interested in finding out. We’d like to highlight one particular display called Behind the Scenes at the
Fashion Museum: The Historic Collection.
Behind the Scenes is a display of, essentially, 19 th century fashion. The earliest pieces are from
Regency times and the most recent from the time of the First World War. The objects are arranged
chronologically; but this is a display with a difference: the idea is that visitors are being invited in to
the museum store and will find themselves literally amongst boxes and boxes of stored material.
Behind the Scenes is one of the most popular displays in the museum, and appeals to a wide-range
of visitors. The key it seems is that the boxes are carefully arranged and set as scenes, and the
impression is of beautiful, historic pieces spilling out of acid-free card storage boxes. Coupled to this,
is a strong linear chronological narrative, with information on the development of fashionable dress
in the 19 th century. There is an extra element too, to the interpretation, in that each case carries
excerpts from 19 th century novels as a way to convey information about fashionable dress.
The gallery then leads on to a previously concealed corridor and reveals to visitors our Dressing
Store, Archive Store and new Reading Room facility filled with our collections of fashion magazines.
The Dressing Store is home to all of our display props and materials including petticoats in various
shapes and sizes; shoes with holes drilled through the soles to fit onto mannequins; and lengths of
net, jersey and wadding. Behind the Scenes will remain as our principle 19 th century gallery, and has
become the principle 19 th century collection store. The feature figures will change on a rolling
programme – probably every three years – but the ‘storage backdrop’ will remain in situ.
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This ‘storage backdrop’ is something that we are very proud of. Like many museums, we are based in
a historic building, which was never designed to hold collections of dress and accessories, and
storage is something of a premium. The decision to make our 19 th century stores into a display, was
in part an answer to this very problem and included the relocation of over 200 boxes from an off-site
store to the Behind the Scenes gallery. We have not only freed up space in our stores to reconfigure
and make them more accessible, but now our entire 19 th century collection is on display to the
public.
The display is housed in a large gallery divided into 10 cases. Each case displays fashions from one or
two decades, along with different methods of storage. In this way we can demonstrate not only our
collection but the different ways in which we store objects, according to their needs. For example,
the first case, showing fashions from the 1800s also displays our stored shawls and stoles. They are
stored interleaved and folded with plain washed calico and acid-free tissue on shelving – which also
means that we can lift them out with relative ease for people to see in the Study Facilities. The 1810s
case houses our collection of 19 th century lace in a series of stacking trays, lined with calico. Lace
lengths are rolled around tubes made from sheets of melinex covered with stockingette.
Although we do have plans for store tours, we realise that many visitors like to see objects within
the context of a narrative or theme and so we feel we have in some way turned our storage
problems into an opportunity for greater access. Visible labels on stored objects and boxes enable
visitors to glimpse at the range and scope of the collection within the context of 19 th century
fashionable dress history. Our 19 th century shoes, for example, are stored on individually labelled
shoe trays made from acid-free card and plastazote and can be seen within the narrative of 1890s
fashion history, while the majority of our 19 th century dresses are stored in acid-free card boxes, and
are on display alongside mounted examples of mid-nineteenth century underwear and dress. Behind
the Scenes is very much a working store and not just a display.
Fashion Museum stores
The ‘knock-on’ effect of moving our 19 th century collection to the gallery has been a re-thinking of all
of our storage space. Since September last year, Rosemary Harden, Fashion Museum Manager has
been working tirelessly to reconfigure each store room at the Fashion Museum, which has been, and
continues to be, a very exciting process. We have discovered things, which we didn’t realise we had,
like just last week when Rosemary discovered a wonderful Callot Soeurs evening coat in pearl grey
and delicate pink silk satin from the late 1930s. The systematic re-organisation and re-storage of our
objects is enabling us to have a real sense of the collection for the first time and in so doing making it
that much more accessible.
Store 3, which houses our 20 th century hat collection, was completed in July of this year and uses
‘really useful boxes’ to protect and stack the hats. These boxes have made the hat collection
accessible on a number of levels. Previously, the hats were stored in rather nasty brown cardboard
boxes or stacked haphazardly on shelves and it was always difficult to find things. Now, we can
clearly see what have - and knowing your collection is surely at the root of access. Storing hats in this
way makes them easily transportable between the store and the Study Facilities, so that whether
we’re facilitating a study appointment, or looking for something for an exhibition, access to our 20 th
century hat collection has become a pleasure!
Another store which has recently received a makeover is our 20 th century shoe store. Our shoe
collection has gone through many location changes as large sections of the collection have been
moved to other stores or placed on display at different times in the past. We regularly accept new
donations to the collection and naturally, over the years, the organisation of the shoe store has
become slowly more chaotic. This store also contained shoes from the 18 th and 19 th centuries and it
15

was only in response to creating the Behind the Scenes gallery that we were able to remove all of the
19 th century shoes, make space and re-think the organisation of the store.
Shoes are a popular accessory to view at the Study Facilities and so we wanted to devise a quick,
easy way to organise and store them, without compromising the objects. Our shoes are stored, by
and large, on shoe trays on dexion shelving in chronological order. To make it easy to access the
shelves, our volunteer group from the West of England Costume Society, devised a series of Roman
blinds to protect the shoes from dust and light. The blinds have been a huge success and have
created a store environment that we now feel happy to show to our visitors.
As a result we are currently planning a different type of open access initiative for 2013, and will offer
pre-booked ‘store tours’ to small groups of people from next summer. The 45 minute tours will be
conducted by ourselves and Rosemary and will take a ‘back stairs’ route through our principle
storage area on the second floor level of the Assembly Rooms. We are in the planning stages of this
initiative at the moment and are discussing whether to timetable the tours as regular ‘Back Stairs
Tours’, or alternatively bill them as occasional ‘Pop-Up Tours’.
A possibility of a different type of personalised ‘Pop-Up Tour presented itself recently. A menswear
student from the Royal College of Art (mentored by Iain R. Webb, in his role as Professor at the
college) visited to look at examples of menswear. Rather than select pieces for him and take them to
the Study Facilities for study, the student spent the afternoon, with Iain in attendance in the
menswear store, which he found really inspiring. Following on from this, we would like to investigate
this ‘Professor’s Pick’ means of access for individual fashion and design students a little further in the
future.
Fashion Museum Study Facilities
The Fashion Museum is passionate about increasing access to its stored collections. We have a
positive attitude to opening up and making the collections available. The Study Facilities is the
principle form of access to the collection, for those pieces that are not on display in the galleries or
out on loan for special exhibition to other Accredited museums. We welcome everybody who wants
to learn more about objects in the museum collection by encouraging enquirers to book one of our
study tables available on a Thursday or Friday each week. Visitors typically book a two hour selfdirected
study appointment and then have the opportunity to examine objects from the stores at
close quarters and to browse our reference library of specialist fashion history texts and journals.
Visitors to the Study Facilities range from groups, for example the Regency period enthusiasts, who
visit each year as part of the Jane Austen Festival held in Bath, to individuals, including students,
fashion designers, re-enactors, historians, novelists, donors - the list goes on! Nobody is excluded –
and no letters of recommendation or references are required - whatever people’s interest, we will
accommodate them and pull a selection of pieces from the stores for them to examine. Although we
have no on-line catalogue for visitors to search, in practice, the issue of “how will I know what
you’ve got in the collection so I know what to request” does not present a problem. We encourage
people to talk to us and set up a dialogue with the museum about their interests and their research.
The Study Facilities were commended in Collections for People, a report published in 2008 by
University College London as a particular strength of the Museum and we were cited as one of the
top 36 museums in the UK who give access to collections not on display. The report considered
stored collections as a public resource and called for their more effective use, and this is something
that we have been keen to explore further as we review our storage needs and plan our exhibitions.
We recognise that the Fashion Museum collection is a public resource and we have an obligation to
make it publicly available
16

Increasingly too, access to the collection is through welcoming people to come and work alongside
us as volunteers, or on intern attachment programmes. We have a long-standing volunteer group
from the West of England Costume Society who join us every Friday morning to undertake a variety
of tasks. For the past two years the group have been working on the development of an additional
area of the Study Facilities, known as the Plunge Pool Reading Room. It houses our Fashion
Magazines, and will operate on the same appointment basis as the Study Facilities, but will be
supervised by the Volunteer Group. The group have done fantastic work listing, numbering and restoring
our collections of Vogue, Queen, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle and we hope to officially open to
visitors in spring 2012.
We are also planning to offer a different type of access to the collection to coincide with the 50 th
Anniversary of the Fashion Museum in 2013. This will take place in a room opposite the Study
Facilities, which is currently full to bursting with 19 th century dress (all of which will be boxed and
stored in the Behind the Scenes gallery throughout 2012). The ‘expert-led’ sessions will take the
form partially of a lecture with projected images and partially of an object session for groups of 15-
20 people. We will tailor-make sessions for groups, offer sessions on popular subjects such as corsets
and crinolines, and ask a range of ‘experts’ to conduct master classes.
The Fashion Museum has a partnership arrangement with Bath Spa University and assists with the
teaching of the BA course in Fashion Design. Fashion students attend lectures in Contextual Studies
on the Assembly Rooms site and have the opportunity to examine and handle relevant historical and
contemporary garments from the museum collection in the Study Facilities as part of their taught
course work. We see first year and second year students each week and work with the Contextual
Studies tutor on delivering this aspect of the course.
We encourage engagement with the objects through close study and work with the students on
undertaking an object analysis and looking at the design and how the garment is put together in
order to build the students’ knowledge of fashion history and to inspire them with their own
designs. So far this semester, the second year students for example, have had access to lots of
gorgeous 1930s dresses as part of their studies on drapery, while the first year students have been
looking at woollen garments and aesthetic dress in tandem with their lectures on the Dress Reform
Movement.
Looking outside of the city of Bath and at a different kind of higher education, the Fashion Museum
also has links with The Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History at the University of
Glasgow. The centre now offers postgraduate programmes, and the first PhD student, Caroline Ness
is writing her doctorate on the Mattli Archive collection at the Fashion Museum. Since 1984, we
have also worked closely with the Pasold Research Fund in awarding a number of small bursaries in
memory of the late Kenneth Ponting to enable students in higher education to study the collections
at the Fashion Museum.
Kenneth Ponting, the founding Director of the Pasold Research Fund and an authority on the wool
textile industry, lived in Bath and took an active interest in the museum. He was also eager to
promote the serious study of both the history of textiles and the history of dress. Last year, Kate
Strasdin, a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, spent three days in our Study Facilities
conducting research for her thesis on the surviving garments of Queen Alexandra, of which we have
some prime examples, including a cream wool yachting jacket and an embroidered evening dress.
As well as welcoming people to the Fashion Museum we also go out and talk to people about the
collection. We offer both general talks and papers on aspects of fashion history. For example, both
Elaine and I have delivered talks to local WI groups and Rosemary contributes to the Bath Royal
17

Literary and Scientific Institution (BRSLI) lecture programmes. BRSLI is the best venue in Bath for
lectures and building on the existing relationship, we are next year co-convening a series of lectures
on Fashion and Sport, which will coincide with our display of the same name opening in February
2012.
We tweet at least once a day about our day-to-day activities; keeping people up to date on new
donations, objects viewed at the Study Facilities, progress on new exhibitions and store moves as
well as other general fashion-related news and events that we are talking about in the office. We
have deliberately kept the style and tone of our tweets fairly informal in order to give a more
personal and less corporate voice to the Fashion Museum. We feel this helps to foster accessibility
and encourages interested users to find out more about the collections.
Using Twitter is helping us to reach people all around the world. Tweets are publicly visible by
default and in September 2011, Twitter announced that it has 100 million active users logging in at
least once a month and 50 million active users every day. We now have almost 900 followers
including fashion enthusiasts, local residents, museums, designers, bloggers and journalists, all keen
to hear about what’s happening at the Fashion Museum.
Images
The Fashion Museum’s access strategies are all about getting people to see the real thing. We
capitalise on the fact that Bath is a city that people either visit, or would be pleased to visit, and
direct our scant resources to firstly devising and then running different types of access schemes. We
also place emphasis on being open and available so that people can tell us what they need in terms
of access.
Of course, not everybody will come to Bath, so we also concentrate on getting images of objects in
the collection into the public domain. Vivien Hynes, the Fashion Museum Administrator handles all
enquiries about images of our objects, working closely with Bridgeman Art Library. In this way, while
we do not have an on-line catalogue of the collection, we can offer a professional service to
enquirers, and also publish images of our objects on a well-resourced accessible website. Over the
past two years we have also worked with Workman Publishing to publish images of handbags and
shoes in the Fashion Museum collection in their calendar range. Today’s handbag is an 18 th century
pear-shaped, canvas work, purse with large ribbon closure. The 2012 shoe calendar featuring over
100 of our shoes is on sale worldwide right now – surely the perfect Christmas present!
Demand for photographic images is an increasing global phenomenon. Everybody wants pictures,
whether this is a 10 year old working on his school topic, or a journalist working to his two-hour
deadline. By working in partnership with different types of professionals in this area (such as the
Bridgeman Art Library or Workman Publishing), we can increase both access to and levels of
engagement with objects in the collection at the Fashion Museum. And that surely is what the
collecting strategies, the display strategies and the access strategies are all about, enabling as many
people as possible to engage with objects in the museum collection for their own learning,
inspiration and enjoyment.
____
‘Talking Textiles’: A Monument Fellowship, York Castle Museum 2010-2011
Mary M Brooks
Introduction
This paper explores the aims, processes and outcomes of the ‘Talking Textile’ Monument Fellowship
which I undertook at York Castle Museum (YCM) in 2010-2011. The ‘Talking Textiles’ Fellowship
18

aimed to enhance the collection’s profile by exploring specific and possibly less well-known parts of
collection and encouraging dialogue and discovery amongst curatorial staff who did not usually work
with the collection. The approaches used to build long-term knowledge and understanding included
themed videos integrating object-based research, the development of web-based information with
the ultimate goal of e-learning and podcasts, training sessions on fibres and fabrics and research into
the collection’s history.
York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum is one of the largest regional museums in England. It developed from a
collection of ‘by-gones’ amassed by Dr John Lamplugh Kirk (1869-1940). In 1890 Kirk moved to
Pickering, a small town near York. Kirk was a keen archaeologist, photographer and speed-trials
racing driver and became most deeply engaged with the loss of the material cultural of the past
which he saw being discarded as the pace of social and cultural change quickened in Yorkshire. He
started to collect in the 1890’s and his collection – bought, given and sometimes accepted in lieu of
medical fees – grew with a vengeance. It became too large for his home and by the 1920s was
housed in Pickering Memorial Hall. Kirk began offering his collections to various institutions but was
dissatisfied with the buildings he was offered. Eventually, the City of York accepted his conditions
and with the great support of Councillor John Bowes Morrell, Kirk’s collection came to York and was
housed in the old Female Prison. This had been built in 1780 to ease some of the overcrowding
problems in the adjacent Debtors’ Prison 1 which the museum expanded into in 1952. Kirk had
revolutionary ideas about museum design, influenced by Scandinavian pioneers such as Hazeilus. He
visited Skansen, the pioneering Swedish outdoor museum, in 1910. 2 Kirkgate, the famous street of
relocated shop fronts constructed in the exercise yard of the Female Prison, and the period rooms
are the most famous of his display strategies and, although they have been changed over time, still
reflect something of his original vision. The YCM Designated Costume and Textile collection includes
English dress from c.1700 to the present day as well as domestic textiles, quilts and embroideries
with particular strengths in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The collection reflects
mainstream fashions exemplified in the clothes worn by ordinary together with fans, shawls,
underwear, shoes and accessories.
The Monument Fellowship Scheme
The Monument Fellowship scheme was established in response to the Museum Association’s report
Collections for the Future (2005), 3 which highlighted concerns that collections knowledge was not
being sufficiently developed, recorded and transmitted.The scheme was funded by the Sainsbury
family Monument Trust and administered by the Museums Association which provided guidance and
support through workshops with other Fellows and this mentors. 4 The host museum and the Fellow
proposed projects enabling past specialists to share their subject knowledge to successors or former
colleagues as well as the wider museum community. The projects initially lasted fifty days with
opportunity of applying for an extension. As a previous Assistant Keeper of Textiles & Dress
(Conservation) at YCM (1988-1993) and following the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre at
the University of Southampton, 5 I was eligible under Fellowship criteria and our application was
successful.
‘Talking Textiles’
The ‘Talking Textiles’ project aimed to capture and share knowledge about the textile and dress
collection by explore ways of looking at textiles and dress with colleagues who had relatively little
experience with this type of material. It was hoped that using a discovery approach would stimulate
dialogue, build knowledge of textiles and dress and create systems and tools to encourage and
sustain long term development of knowledge and understanding. In terms of sustainability, this
information would also contribute to the retrospective documentation process The approaches used
to build long-term knowledge and understanding of the textiles and dress collection included
19

themed videos integrating object-based research, the development of web-based information with
the ultimate goal of e-learning and podcasts, training sessions on fibres and fabrics and research into
the collection’s history. Understanding and learning from this process would facilitate new ways of
exploring the collection and, ultimately, enhance interpretation for the benefit of visitors. These
goals including contributing to the development of a ‘Learning Journey’ for the My Learning website,
fibre and fabric training sessions, fact packs and a guide for museum visitors to textiles and dress in
the museum. An article on the history of the collection in an academic journal is being developed to
capture the outcomes of the project for a different audience. This was a busy and ambitious project
and we were fortunate in being successful in an application for a full extension of a further 50 days.
‘Talking Textiles’ videos
A series of informal videos were made recording object based ‘collections conversations’ about the
specific parts of the dress and textiles collection. The objective of making the videos was three-fold:
To disseminate information about the dress and textile collection to a wider nonvisitor
group in an exciting and innovative manner using the web
To engage with staff from the then History and the Learning Teams who did not
normally work with the textile and dress collection with aim of:
o enriching their understanding of the collection through detailed discussion
of specific items in the collection (object-based learning methodology)
o enhance understanding of the potential of the collection and ways of using
it in interpretation, education and learning
o
o
raising awareness of relevant research resources
enhance knowledge of the conceptual basis of the physical layout of the
costume and textile stores which are based on the ICOM Costume
Committee framework 6
To create resources for specific sections of the dress and textile collection
The videos are now in digital format and three are being professionally edited to become podcasts. 7
These will be available via the Museum’s website to be used as pre-visit information, provide access
to parts of the collection which are not on display and to support learning activities.
As articulated by Kingery, 8 object-based study involves not only studying the physical nature of the
artefact but also considering the context and location of its production as well as the use which has
been made of it, both in its original context and in terms of re-use, rejection, disposal or collection
(Fig. 1). This process enables the development of deep understanding resulting in more effective
communication of the artefact’s nature and significance.
ARTEFACT
Attributes
Frequency
Associations
Spatial patterns
PRODUCTION
ACTIVITIES
Materials collection
Materials selection
Materials processing
Object design
Object realisation /
production
USE ACTIVITIES
Distribution
Use and function -
as tools
as signs
as symbols
Performance /
Meaning
Discard / Refuse
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Figure 1. Linking understanding of the object with its use and social life (based on Kingery 1996)
Key points from the ‘collections conversations’ were identified for the filmed conversations. An
informal plan for the discussion was made, identifying who was to make which point and in which
order. Normally, the starting point was a full view of the garment or item followed by more detailed
close-ups according to the flow of the conversation. When working with groups of more than one
colleague, the conversation was initially mediated by the Fellow but as colleagues grew in
confidence, the discussions were increasingly a creative dialogue between the two of them. When
working in pairs, it was usual for the colleague and the Fellow to take turns in leading and recording
a conversation. It was important to ensure that colleagues felt comfortable with the process.
Themes which drew on both the strength of the collection and the Monument Fellow’s specific
knowledge of the collection were identified:
Spotting the Rot: exploring the causes of degradation in textiles
War time Fabrics and Fashions: Utility and non-Utility garments and accessories
Hardware: Protective clothing for humans and animals, including military items
Dressing the 18 th century Lady: using an 18 th century doll as the centrepiece
together with comparable and complementary dress and accessories and images
from York Art Gallery
Gems from the Collection: highlighting some of the most significant and unusual
pieces in the Dress and Textile Collection
Fibres and Fabrics looking at the main types of fibres and different fabric structures
After these themes had been selected and objects had been identified and located, conversations
about the objects took place using an object-based methodology, supported with information and
research resources prepared by the Fellow. This information eventually became part of the resource
handbook for each theme. Insights from previous encounters with the object where integrated into
the handbook.
Knowledge gained through previous conservation treatment and radiography of the eighteenth
century doll was included in the handbook for Dressing the 18 th century Lady. This discussion was
also framed with information about York’s position as a centre of fashion in the eighteenth century.
The manager of York Theatre from 1766, Tate Wilkinson observed in his Memoirs ‘The ladies of York
without any compliment have a grace and manner not often met with out of London’. 9 Using images
from other collections in York Museum Trust was also helpful in contextualising the doll and her
dress. A painting in York Art Gallery of New Walk, 10 a tree-lined avenue created in the 1730s by the
corporation of York as a formal space for the fashion conscious to stroll and socialise and prints of
the Assembly Rooms 11 showed eighteenth century dress in movement both inside and outside.
Integrating information about fashionable consumption in York was also important such as a 1740
advertisement by George Roe, Silk Mercer and Linen Draper at the Sycamore in the Minster Yard
detailing the range of fabrics he sold. 12
A similar approach was used for the Fibres and Fabrics theme. Specific examples of unusual fibres
where highlighted the Ardil nightdress from the Wallis Archive in the collection (YCM 431.78). 13 This
is an example where understanding that the nightdress contained ICI’s peanut fibre led to a changed
understanding of the garment and a bigger research project. A mourning bonnet made by Rowntree
Milliners of 16 Parliament Street, York was used as an example of a crepe fabric (CCT 1956; YORCM
25/73).
Sharing knowledge with colleagues
21

The work done for this theme fed into the two Fibres and Fabrics workshops. One was for museum
staff and the other, organised with through the Social History Curator’s Group, was for colleagues
outside the museum. These workshops aimed to introduce participants to the natural, man-made
and synthetic fibres and their behaviours and patterns of degradation. Participants explored fibre
and fabrics through hands-on examination of samples and an observation activity in the museum.
Although there had been some concern that using microscopes would be off-putting as it was too
‘science’ orientated, participants found the opportunity to make a fibre slide and use a simple
microscope to identify a variety of fibres the most exciting and rewarding part of the day.
Sharing knowledge with visitors
A self-guided tour for visitors interested in learning more about textiles and dress on display in the
museum was developed and can be downloaded from the museum website. 14 Called ‘Following the
Thread’, this was evaluated as part of in-gallery CPD sessions with the museum guides. These
sessions aimed to enhance the guides’ knowledge of textiles and dress on display so they could
respond effectively to visitors’ questions. They also provided invaluable feedback on which items
visitors found most intriguing or most puzzling. It was also illuminating to ask the guides for their
favourite textile and dress objects – and also those they found most difficult to understand and
explain.
Deepening knowledge of the collection
One key aspect of the project which is still on-going was to capture knowledge of the history of the
collection. Research was undertaken in to the earlier registers recording the type of textiles and
dress acquired names of donors and location. Key aims here are to explore Kirk’s interests in this
material, explore the rationality of the collection and recognise the huge contribution of YCM textile
and dress curators and conservators Pat Clegg, Clare Rose, Josie Sheppard and Jane Mckinley.
What did we learn?
Through the project, I tried to work as a good reflective practitioner and think about the process as
well as the product. It was thought important to record the process for further development as the
museum was undergoing major changes. The Museums Association undertook formal monitoring
and evaluation to ensure that projects ran smoothly and meet their objectives. They also produced
advice and guidance on knowledge-sharing for the wider museum community in the form of the
Sharing Knowledge Toolkit which drew on the work of the Monument Fellows and is intended as a
practical guide for museums. 15 An issue of Museum Practice focusing on succession planning also
drew on the Monument experience. 16
It was clear that this level of close working with objects was engaging, enjoyable and
generated information and ideas which feed into understanding of collection. Colleagues
welcomed the opportunity to work closely with objects and use object-research model –
something that is all too rare in daily working life in the museum. Participants enjoyed the
workshops including learning how to use the microscopes and found understanding the
fibres and fabrics informed their thinking about textiles and dress. Hopefully, long-term
public benefits will grow out of this deeper understanding of such collections.
Acknowledgements
York Castle Museum: I would like to thank colleagues for their support and positive engagement in
the project and for sharing their knowledge and expertise so generously.
Gwendolen Whitaker, Curator, History; Fellowship supervisor; Sheri Steel, previously Curator, Social
History; Katy Turner, previously Curator, Social History; Sarah Maultby, previously Assistant Curator,
Social History; Michelle Petyt, previously Assistant Curator, Social History;
22

Josie Sheppard, previously Curator, Costume and Textiles; Sheila Gair. Display & Storage Care
Assistant; Lucy Knock, Assistant Curator of Social History, Learning; Lynda Withers, Education
Assistant
Museums Association:
Lucy Shaw, Diversify Coordinator
Helen Wilkinson, Consultant, museum sector policy
________
1. The architect of the English Baroque style building was possibly William Wakefield, a trained lawyer
rather than a professional architect.
2. Opinions vary as to how much Kirk understood the curatorial principles developing in Scandinavian
museum and how far he used them as a display device rather than as an intellectual principle; see
Kavanagh, G. 1986-7. Beyond Folk Life. Social History Curators Journal, 14, 3-6.
3. See Collections for the Future Report http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=11121 and
Collections for the Future: Two Years On http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=14112
4. http://www.museumsassociation.org/collections/about-monument-fellowships
5. The textile conservation and history of textile and dress programmes are now based at Glasgow
University; see The Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History MPhil Textile
Conservation http://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/textileconservation/ and MLitt Textile and
Dress Histories http://www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/dresstextilehistories/
6. ICOM Costume Committee; Buck, A. 1982. Vocabulary of basic terms for cataloguing costume.
Waffen- und Kostümkunde, p. 119-152. See http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/costume/vbt00e.htm
7. For a rough cut see Wartime fashions at York Castle Museum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1aJrIMBMSg
8. Kingery, D. W., ed. 1996. Learning from Things. Method and Theory of Material Culture Studies,
Washington & London: Smithsonian Institution Press
9. Cited in Grundy Heape, R. 1937. Georgian York. A Sketch of Life in Hanoverian England. London:
Methuen & Co. Ltd., 14.
10. After Nathan Drake, New Terrace Walk, York (York Art Gallery 584-1).
11. William Lindley, Assembly rooms, York 1759 (York art Gallery R1482-1). The Assembly Rooms were
designed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, drawing on Palladio’s interpretation of Roman
architecture. It was probably the earliest neo-classical building in Europe and became one of the most
influential buildings in early 18th century England.
12. This is advertisement ‘inform[s] all persons – even those of the meanest capacity - that they can have
the following goods either wholesale or retail, the process being fixed without any abatement: Rich
brocades in the newest patterns, Black and coloured Paduasoys, Silk satins, Allopeens, Cherryderrys,
Poplins, Superfine Broad Camblets, Tammils, Plodds, India Dermitties, Wrough Petticoats, Hair
Prunelloes and Princess stuffs, for Clergymen and gentlemen of the Law, men’s Gouns and Banyans,
and other goods to tedious to mention’. Cited in Grundy Heape, R. 1937. Georgian York. A Sketch of
Life in Hanoverian England. London: Methuen & Co., 67.
13. The Wallis archive is a collection within a collection of dress and textiles from one north country
family from the late 18th century through to the 1970s. See Brooks, M. M. 1999. Patterns of choice:
women's and children's clothing in the Wallis Archive, York Castle Museum. In: B. Burman, ed. The
Culture of Sewing. Berg: London, 169-192; Brooks, M. M. 1991. Man-made fibres and synthetics in
the Wallis Archive, York Castle Museum. In: Per una Stoira della Moda Pronta. Atti del V Convegno
Internazionale del Centro Italiano per lo Studio del Tessuto (CISST), Milano, 26-28 Febbraio 1990.
Florence: EDIFIR Edizioni Firenze, 377-387; Sheppard, J. 1991. The Wallis Archive, York Castle
Museum. In: Per Una Storia della Moda Pronta Problemi e richercha Atti del V Convegno
Internazionale del Centro Italiano per lo Studio del Tessuto (CISST), Milano, 26-28 Febbraio 1990.
Firenze: Edifir Edizioni, 377-387.
23

14. Brooks, M. M. 2011. Following the Thread
http://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/assets/collections/talking%20textiles%20-
%20follow%20the%20thread.pdf
15. Wilkinson, H. 2011.Sharing Knowledge: a Toolkit. A Practical Guide for Museums based on the
Monument Fellowships from the Museums Association.
http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=322812
16. Museum Practice. Succession Planning. http://www.museumsassociation.org/museumpractice/succession-planning
_____
Can you just pop that on a mannequin for me?’ – Object Preservation v Press
Demands Beatrice Behlen, Senior Curator of Fashion & Decorative Arts, Museum of London
Curators are expected to play a significant part in publicising their institution’s programme, events
and collections. Members of museums’ press departments usually understand that the use of
objects demands certain safeguards. However, in the pursuit of the all-important media coverage
there are sometimes attempts to blur or cross agreed boundaries.
Beatrice described the progress of one particular publicity project. To appeal to an otherwise hard to
reach audience the Museum of London agreed to collaborate with AnOther Magazine on producing
a short stop-motion film for the publication’s website. After almost a year of negotiations a shooting
timetable was agreed at very short notice.
Stop-motion animation involves taking a very high number of photographs of objects in different
positions, which has to be carefully handled. Twenty outfits were transported to a photographic
studio outside a museum, with all the potential loss of control this might entail. Smaller objects were
photographed at the Museum but they also had to be ‘animated’, i.e. moved in ingenious ways to
work with the film’s story.
Beatrice animating a bathing cap
Agata Belcen manipulating spectacles
While the filmmaker, her staff and that of AnOther were very understanding of the constraints
under which curators have to operate, it proved sometimes difficult to ensure the safety of the
objects. Thankfully none were harmed and the Museum was very happy with Quentin Jones’ Time
Machine. The film is beautiful and can still be seen on AnOther’s website
http://www.anothermag.com/exclusives/time-machine) where it is accompanied by information
about the Museum’s collection. It is, however, hard to evaluate what exactly has been achieved by
this project.
The main lessons learned from this somewhat experimental undertaking were: 1. while this is often
impossible, try to make sure you know beforehand what you are letting yourself in for and make
clear what is acceptable and what is not, 2. discuss the project’s aims with your press
24

department/officer, 3. if you can, ensure that everyone involved understands how much time you
can devote and 4. keep calm and practise a firm and authoritative voice in front of the mirror.
____
‘Memories & Reminiscences: Yorkshire Fashion Archive’, Lynne C. Webster, Claire
Watson and David Backhouse
Abstract
This paper examines the development of a new clothing archive where the public are an integral
part of the experience of ‘collecting and accessing’ and discusses its first exhibition at Salts Mill in
Saltaire, West Yorkshire.
The Yorkshire Fashion Archive (YFA) is a collection of garments and accessories worn by people in
Yorkshire during the twentieth century. Many of the items have been donated with accompanying
photographic images, information and anecdotes concerning the piece itself, the wearer or the
situations in which they were worn. Recognising that dress cannot be separated from the living,
breathing, moving body it covers (Entwhistle & Wilson:1998) the research identifies, expands upon
and appraises significant issues in Yorkshire’s past by exploring ways in which a society’s
experiences, values and beliefs are communicated (Barnard: 2002). The first YFA exhibition ‘Dress
Rehearsal’ April-May 2011 was designed to encourage the future development of the resource
through public interaction and dialogue and as a conduit for visitor interaction and participation in
future research.
Key words:
exhibition • fashion • archive • clothing • community • archives • fashion garment
• identity • local history oral history • 20th century history and culture • Yorkshire
Fashion Archive
Introduction
The twentieth century was a crucial period in the cultural, industrial and intellectual development of
the Yorkshire textile trade (Honeyman: 2000). In the past it was supposed that old clothes were too
trivial and ephemeral to save (Steele: 1998) yet as we progress further into the 21 st century, it is
imperative that this evidence is gathered before the voices are lost forever. In 1999 the fashion staff
in the School of Design at the University of Leeds recognised an opportunity to document and
research clothing and accessories from the Yorkshire Region.
‘...understanding of the reasons why changes have taken place and being able to
contextualise these changes within a socio-historical setting is paramount for the fashion
student, the emerging designer, fashion historian, the avid follower of fashion history.’
(English: 2007)
Fashioning the Archive
When the YFA was first conceived in 1999, the original scope was to collect garments and
accessories created between the years 1950 – 2000 (Fig.1), in an effort to make the local social and
cultural history of the late 20 th century visible through clothing. However, it soon became apparent
that there was a large amount of material available that pre-dated 1950. In 2008 the executive
committee was created, bringing together the fashion academic staff at the university and other key
individuals, each bringing a different view and area of expertise to support the YFA. Colin McDowell,
journalist, historian and fashion commentator became Chairman, and Christopher Bailey, Creative
Director of Burberry became Patron. Colin McDowell has written about social history and
community engagement with fashion. Christopher Bailey is a high profile figure in the fashion
25

industry, and his presence alone ensures press coverage at openings and exhibitions. Burberry’s links
with Yorkshire are established; the famous Burberry Trench Coat has been produced in Castleford,
Yorkshire since the 1960’s. There is also a textile conservator, a respected business director and a
research professor.
Figure 1 First YFA postcard c. 2000
The acquisition methodology of this collection involves critically appraising clothing and accessories
bought, made or worn in Yorkshire in the 20th century. The personal narratives of the garment’s
owners are investigated and preserved through clothing, accessories, photographs, film and audio
recordings, and anecdote. The 20 th century was a period of enormous change in both clothing
production and consumption, the archive provides opportunities for scholars to investigate research
questions related to cultural and socio-economic characteristics of this significant era, including
changing social attitudes and influences, economic prosperity, global trends and the regional
technical excellence in textiles and clothing.
The repository’s aim is to provide a historical and cultural record of Yorkshire life in the 20th
Century that will engage with business, schools, higher education and the local and wider
communities to maximize its impact and ensure long-term sustainability. The YFA is a collection
of vintage clothing and accessories spanning every decade of the 20th century, from debutante
gowns to mill workers overalls, and draws upon material from the local community and is a
national resource that will continue to develop with historically significant donated pieces being
secured from internationally known UK designers, manufacturers, retailers and the general
public. Unlike many other fashion archives, which seek to include examples of all types of
fashion and clothing with the emphasis on the artefact themselves, the research materials at the
YFA allows scholars to approach local history from a new perspective, which allows a method of
interaction with a local narrator and the experience of a more intimate personal history.
‘Fashion and dress are socially salient media that are simultaneously intimate and public
and, once worn or displayed, can be infused with the wearer’s life story and the memories of
those close to them.’ (de la Haye: 2011).
The archive has the support of the School of Design in the
University of Leeds, but it was a grant from the
Clothworkers Company, which enabled the archive to
become publically accessible in 2010. The archive was
able to move into new accommodation, invest in much
needed archiving materials, develop a brand identity
(Fig.2), create a website and launch the first public
exhibition at Salts Mill in April 2011. The patron,
Christopher Bailey brings support and interest from the
business sector. On an ongoing basis, industrial partners
from the fashion industry sponsor student projects using
26

Figure 2 YFA Branding applications
the YFA as a resource.
The Exhibition
Salts Mill, located in Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, is an art gallery, shopping and restaurant
complex. Originally a former mill built by Sir Titus Salt, a Victorian philanthropist and woollen fabric
manufacturer, it is now a World Heritage Site containing an important collection of David Hockney
paintings and a venue for regional performing arts and community projects. It was decided that this
would be a suitable venue for the exhibition because of its industrial past and strong Yorkshire
heritage. The management team at Salts provided space for this first exhibition free of charge,
supplying not only the venue but also hosting the Press launch ‘party’ and generously providing all
subsistence for YFA staff at the exhibition. The management team at the mill felt that the exhibition
was of great consequence as it featured the ‘ordinary’ folk of Yorkshire and linked to the textile
heritage, which is so important to the mill itself.
Key to the success and continued development of the YFA is the concept of ‘community ownership’.
The local community is reflected in the documentation and the ‘stories’ revealed relate directly to a
broad and diverse regional audience. This was clearly evidenced at this first public exhibition ‘Dress
Rehearsal’ (Fig.3). The visitors’ experience of the exhibition of clothes in combination with the
narratives and photographs, underpinned by a Yorkshire provenance seemed to form highly
personal associations and re-awakened memories and reminiscences.
The exhibition explored how clothing has a direct intimacy and relationship with the wearer and/or
donor and demonstrated how entrusting treasured garments to strangers can bring back long buried
memories and feelings.
Garments can also become inextricably
entwined with lives experienced or can
evoke lives lost: It is not unusual to
cherish as an aide memoir a garment
worn for a rite of passage or special
occasion. (de la Haye: 2011)
Case Study of Mrs H
Figure 3 ‘Dress Rehearsal’ Exhibition at Salts 2011
The case study of Mrs H of South Cave, East Yorkshire demonstrates how long forgotten memories
can be reawakened by garments and personal possessions. Mrs H donated a range of outfits
belonging to her deceased mother-in-law (also named Mrs H), one of which was a black coat with
white faux fur collar by Dellbury, circa 1967 (Fig.4). Such was Mrs H’s dislike and perceived snobbery
of her mother-in-law she insisted the donations were given in the name of her husband.
27

Figure 4 Mrs H’s Black coat with faux fur collar c. 1967
Figure 5 Mrs H wearing her fur coat and ‘gold’ jewellery c. 1960s
There was ‘…no love lost’ between Mrs H and her mother-in-law, she had been made to feel that she
was ‘…not good enough for her precious son’. Mrs H remembered how her mother-in-law enjoyed
showing they were a ‘…cut above the rest’ as shop owners which at this time, the 1950s and 60s,
was considered a class above working class. Wearing a fur coat, stole or fur accessories they felt
‘…better than the neighbours’ (Mrs H, 2011). Mrs H’s daughter-in-law remembers her wearing her
fur coat one day and the fur wrap the next so neighbours knew she had both. At this time clothes
mattered a great deal and were important class signifiers. As the lower classes gained access to
superior quality clothing, the middle-class shopper had to find other ways to distinguish him or
herself visually; wearing fur was one of the ways Mrs H chose to accent this distinction (Fig.5).
The black coat with white faux fur collar and large mother of pearl button featured in the exhibition
was worn by Mr H’s mother on many occasions, including her grandson’s graduation. Mr H’s mother
was very close to her own mother, they spent a lot of time together as they owned and ran a
successful grocers shop. They were close in ages and looked more like sisters than mother and
daughter. They regularly went on outings to resorts such as Blackpool wearing their fur coats. Casual
clothing is seen as being the ‘norm’ today but formal dress was the usual attire in the 1950s and 60s
for a day at the seaside.
Figure 6 Mrs H and her daughter c. 1960s
Figure 6 shows Mrs H and her mother on the promenade at Blackpool circa 1960s both wearing their
fur coats. A large emerald ring, known as the ‘…family jewels’ and passed down from mother to
daughter, can be seen on Mrs H’s left hand. When Mrs H eventually inherited the ring it was found
to be coloured paste and not the precious jewel her mother-in-law had always told her it was.
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Without the YFA Mrs H would not have had a reason to discuss her mother-in-law’s garments and
the impact they had on her and her family enabling Mrs H to articulate and structure her memories.
Conclusion
The exhibition drew a diverse range of more than 7,000 visitors. Although often perceived as an
ephemeral pursuit, the study of fashion, shown in the case of Mrs H, can be a valuable tool for
democratising history. The case study demonstrates how a multidisciplinary methodology is applied
through the genre of fashion. It enabled the scholars to ‘contextualise artefacts and objects in a
multi-layered fashion’ (Palmer: 1997) to build a picture of the person and through their narrative
and perceptions, a view of history. Before the second half of the 20 th century, key historians
excluded segments of society from the grand narrative of world history by focusing on the records of
the ‘great men’ (Lerner: 1975). Many of the records donated and kept at YFA are of normal men and
women who passed their lives in Yorkshire. To gain a deeper understanding of history, one should
examine many records of ordinary people, not just documents focused on the obvious power of
kings, princes, and popes (Pelteret: 2008). The ‘Dress Rehearsal’ exhibition, and the YFA, makes
studies of local people possible.
References:
Barnard, M. (2002) Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge.
de la Haye, A (2010) Introduction: Dress and Fashion in the Context of the Museum. In: Berg
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol 10, part 5. September [accessed 26 October 2011
through Berg Fashion Library]
Entwhistle, J & Wilson, E (1998) The Body Clothed in: Addressing the Century: 100 years of art and
fashion. London: Hayward Gallery.
Honeyman, K. (2000) Well suited: A History of the Leeds Clothing Industry 1850-1990. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Lerner, G (1975) Placing Women in History: Definitions and Challenges. Feminist Studies 3:1/2
(Autumn), 5-14
Palmer, A (1997) New Directions: Fashion History Studies and Research in North America and
England. Fashion Theory, 1(3)
Pelteret, DAE (2008) Medieval Slavery: Problems and Possibilities in AMARC (Association for
Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections) Newsletter 50:1, 5-6
Steele, V. (1998) ‘A museum of fashion is more than a clothes-bag’, Fashion Theory, 2(4), 327-335.
Yorkshire Fashion Archive. Oral history of Mrs H, interviewed 2011
Lynne Webster is a Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Design, University of Leeds.
Claire Watson MA is a Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Design, University of Leeds.
David Backhouse MDes RCA is Programme Leader Fashion, School of Design, University of Leeds.
Lynne, Claire and David’s main research interests are centred on the Yorkshire Fashion Archive and
they are all founding members of the Executive Committee. Based in the fashion area, the archive
chronicles the cultural history of Yorkshire and aims to reflect changing social attitudes and
29

influences, economic prosperity, global trends and the regional technical excellence in textiles and
clothing over a 100 year period using clothing, accessories, photographs, film archive and narratives.
_______
How to move a dress collection without a database, Meg Dorman, Curator, Kensington
Palace
I work at Kensington Palace for Historic Royal Palaces. In 2009 we were asked to move the Royal
Ceremonial Dress Collection to an interim store as a building project was about to start and the
current stores were to become part of the new visitor hub. We decided to make the most of the
move. We had no central database that contained catalogue information and locations of objects in
one place - we had several different ones that had to be used simultaneously.
In 2009 the collection was spread over 6 different rooms and two floors. We found a space in the
Palace that could hold the entire collection in one area which was a bonus. This meant that visits to
the stores could be more easily managed and we wouldn't have to carry objects through the visitor
route.
The first step we took was to take inventory. We wanted to plan where every object was going to go
in the new store so that the actual move could be done as smoothly as possible.
In the new store (with a new layout) everything would be in a different place. To make the transition
a bit simpler we took photos of every hanging object and an overall photo of every drawer. These
were printed out in advance ready for the move.
We wanted to change the inventory as little as possible so as we were moving from drawers into
boxes we had boxes made to the same size as the drawers. Then the contents could be easily packed
into the new boxes without lots of changing locations. The photos were attached to the outside of
the box to make it easier to find things in the new stores. We printed new labels in advance as well
and these were placed in Melinex envelopes on the outside of the boxes.
The actual move went quite well. It was done with in-house staff moving boxes before we opened
(the route to the new stores went through exhibition spaces) and then placing them during the day.
Every object was listed on a spreadsheet showing its old location and its planned new location.
We tried to make the most of the move by improving access as much as possible for ourselves and
the visitors to the collection. To keep the collection together we had to stack boxes on racking
almost to the ceiling. This makes it difficult to run a stores visit on one's own as the boxes are large
and sometimes high. Some objects we knew we accessed frequently and these were placed in rooms
with spaces for tables and on lower shelves.
We learned some lessons - you can't plan carefully enough! Planning where every object goes in
advance was incredibly helpful. If you have the time/money make sure the boxes you use can be
handled by one person if possible. If budget permits then movers would be helpful as well - moving a
collection for months on end takes a toll on your staff! The photos have been great, especially when
looking for objects on high shelves.
We re-used about 200 boxes and purchased 350 new ones. We moved 21 hanging racks of
garments. The move took three months with six members of staff working constantly. The Royal
Ceremonial Dress Collection contains approx 12,000 objects.
_____
30

Access and the new Fashion & Textile Gallery, The Bowes Museum Joanna
Hashagen, Keeper of Fashion & Textiles
The Design Brief stated that the new gallery was to be ‘spectacular by presenting textiles in an
exciting way, using the latest display ideas and materials and to be serious by providing access to
study collections and storage within the gallery.’
The main priority was to enable greater access to the extensive textile collections for the general
visitor and the specialist, through changing displays, study facilities and accessible storage in a new
purpose built gallery.
The aims of the new gallery were:
To promote wider public appreciation of, and access to, the textile and dress collection by
new ways of presentation and interpretation.
To present each object accurately and in context, to encourage the visitor to look closely at
the detail, to appreciate its beauty and the technical skill involved in its making.
To provide simple methods of changing displays and graphics with nothing screwed down or
permanently fixed.
To create a flexible system for displaying objects; to enable layering and placing of objects at
their appropriate height, such as lace collars at shoulder height, curved, as if around a body,
to give visitors a clearer understanding of how these items were used originally.
Image – view of gallery showing permanent display with monitors and hanging system
The permanent display cases
The aim of developing a hanging system was to create a contextual ‘interplay’ of objects. The
designers devised a system of metal hanging bars which hook over the top frame of the large
showcases. They slide along the outer rails, so they can be positioned anywhere and objects hang
from a rod or wire, at any position or height. The objects are easy to remove as they just unhook.
This means objects and labels can be quickly and easily changed, with no need for technicians.
The ability to hang actual portraits inside the cases, with this system, has created an evocative,
intimate relationship with the dress on display.
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There is a clever use of magnets on the steel structure which support small object mounts and label
stands and allow for a flexible lighting system. Each LED, on a flexible neck, is attached by magnets,
to enable each one to move along the structure. The energy saving LED lighting, the easily available
and re-useable magnets and shop kit hanging elements, make this a good sustainable system for the
future.
This section of the display for the 1830s is a good illustration of the approach we took –
To layer a range of costume, textiles and accessories of that period, so that they come
together visually, at appropriate heights, making their history and the period more tangible.
For example, the placing of the portrait in front of a hanging quilt of richly coloured and
patterned dress fabrics.
To have all mounts and mannequins custom made in acrylic, to safely support the object but
not distract the viewer. The acrylic forms have allowed the visitor to see the interior of a
garment and the success of this innovative method has been overwhelming. Visitors are
intrigued to be able to see inside garments gaining glimpses of otherwise hidden details,
such as makers’ labels and stitching.
The monitors at the end of each case create a further context with fashion illustrations and Punch
cartoons, for example. We also filmed close-up details of items on display, like fine embroidery or
lace, the camera moving slowly over the surface of the textile. Most importantly the films introduce
movement, revealing how clothes would have looked when worn, using archive footage or in the
case above, a clip from BBC’s dramatisation of Cranford.
In conclusion, the success of the gallery displays seems to be the combination of the three new
interpretive elements:
the discreet acrylic mounts
the setting in context by layering objects
the addition of paintings to create a sense of time and place, and through film, which also
introduces movement.
These elements crucially work together, creating, for the visitor, a more accessible and engaging
relationship with the objects on view.
Temporary displays
Two spaces at either side of The Glass Cube are used for temporary displays, both fitted with
projectors for AV use, one with a large ‘display wall’ a flexible structure adapted from high quality
shop-fit systems.
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A review of temporary exhibitions, mounted since the gallery opened, illustrates how adaptable
these spaces are for different types of shows, which is becoming a formula for future programming,
to attract wider audiences.
Contemporary fashion or textile designers (e.g. Vivienne Westwood Shoes June 2011)
Showcasing new talent from Fashion & Design courses in the North of England, project work
based on items and displays from our collection ( e.g. displays of work from fashion
students, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities, July and December 2011)
Focus on technical aspects of the historic collections, with accompanying demonstrations
and workshops ( income generating) (e.g. Knit 3TOG March-April 2011)
Focus on one or two dresses by one designer, highlighting their career but also revealing the
story of the life of the wearer. (e.g. Vionnet, to April 2011, Paquin Dec 2011- 9 April 2012)
Artist residencies to create new work inspired by historic collections (e.g. Between the Lines.
An installation by textile artist, Naseem Derby). This show was seen by the conference
delegates.
New audiences and indicators of success
The greatest achievement has been the increase in popularity for our textile collections, attracting
new and younger audiences. Visitor surveys conducted by Audiences North East show that the
highest percentage of visitors (44%) named the Fashion and Textile Gallery as their favourite in the
Museum and the highest percentage of visitors (36%) named textiles and dress as the collection they
would return to see again.
Contemporary fashion has undeniably been the most successful, so far. Visitor numbers for the
Vivienne Westwood exhibition versus the same period the previous year showed an increase of
87.4%, with student concessions showing an increase of 1326.7%.
Before visiting the gallery, delegates were shown the film which is an introduction to gallery and The
Art of Dressing with Luca Costigliolo, which plays in the gallery and on our website. See link:
http://www.indigomultimedia.com/portfolio/art-of-dressing
Acknowledgements:
Gallery Design: Blue the design company ltd.
Acrylic mounts and mannequins: The Museum Workshop Ltd.
Mounting of costume: Janet Wood
Conservation: Caroline Rendell
Audio- visual: Indigo Multimedia Ltd.
Display lighting: FusionLX
33

Glass structures: Peterlee Glass
Motorised hoists for quilts and tapestries: Eagle Designs
Funding: Department for Culture, Media &Sport (DCMS) / Wolfson Gallery Improvement Fund; The
Monument Trust; The Clothworkers’ Foundation; The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF);
The Friends of The Bowes Museum.
_____
Creating the ‘No mannequin, mannequins in the new Fashion and Textiles
Gallery, at the Bowes Museum, 2008-2010 - Janet Wood, Costume conservation and
display
How do you create a ‘no mannequin’
mannequin? The development of the acrylic
forms used to display the garments in The
Fashion and Textile Gallery at the Bowes
Museum were the result of a statement
from the exhibition’s designer, Claire
Gresswell, of Blue The Design Company, that
she only wanted to see textiles and costume
in the cases, no dead bodies! Her objection
to any anthropomorphic form was that as
soon as there was a ‘visible form’, i.e. a
representation of a human body inside the
costume, the body became the focus and a
distraction from the costume.
A survey was made of all the different types of garment stands previously used in the museum.
They were an eclectic collection of fibreglass museum figures, shop mannequins and garment stands
with different neck heights, paint finishes, poles and bases .
Museum mount maker, Roy Mandeville, known for his work with acrylic mounts, was contracted to
source the acrylic forms. A web search found an Italian company manufacturing acrylic shop
mannequins. These were modern torsos, suitable for some 20thc costume but generally too large
and athletic for historic dress. It was obvious that we would need to create new shapes for costume
from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
34

Photo 1: Bowes 1
Photo 2: Bowes 2
Looking back through the mannequins used for previous displays new torsos were designed which
incorporated the most appropriate characteristics from these forms. Budget and time constraints on
manufacture meant that it was only possible to create 2 completely new forms, Bowes 1 and Bowes
2, (see photos 1 and 2).
The contemporary Italian male, female and child acrylic mannequins were also used in the gallery.
Whether a modern Italian torso or Bowes 1 or 2 all forms needed individual adaptations. In order to
see through the acrylic to the inside of the costume padding was only applied to areas of the torsos
invisible to the visitor, photos 3 and 4. This was a complicated process as the safety of the costume
was paramount but for the visitor to fully experience each costume it’s historical context was also
extremely important.
The method proved very effective and enabled printed linings inside jackets, designer labels, and
inner structures of costumes to be seen inside a museum display for the first time. Some torsos
were suspended on rods from bars on top of the cases, and others with larger skirts were displayed
on poles and bases. This gave the effect of the costume ‘floating’ in its own space inside the cases,
with no immediately visible supports, (see photos 5 and 6).
Perspex has long been used for museum mounts but all the acrylics from which the torsos were
made were ‘Oddy’ tested to make sure that they were inert and would not degrade and give off
chemicals detrimental to the textiles. All passed conservation tests for long-term display.
35

Photo 3: Dress with the inside of the bodice visible
to visitors
Photo 4: Padding on the front of the torso
Even with the limited range of torsos, with skill and ingenuity it was possible to
cover three centuries of costume in the gallery.
Photo 5: Costume installed in the gallery
Photo 6 : Suspended male costume
Acknowledgements: With thanks to Claire Greswell, Blue The Design Company, for the inspiration,
Joanna Hashagen for her support and dedication to this project, Roy Mandeville for his skill and
patience and to The Bowes Museum for the use of images.
____
An Access Project in Progress - The Blackborne Lace Collection Annabel Talbot
A tour of The Bowes Museum's Fashion and Textile Gallery’s Glass Study Cube and an introduction to
The Blackborne Lace Project.
36

I am currently working on The Blackborne Lace Collection Project which is funded by the Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation.The project will secure public access to a representative range of lace in The
Blackborne collection and meet the demands of researchers and specialists; giving access to
different levels of scholarship.
Key aims and purpose of The Blackborne Lace Project - Documentation and Access
Unpacking, recording (digitally) and sorting The Blackborne Lace Collection into category,
date, type and condition.
Selecting key pieces of lace from The Blackborne Lace Collection for the accessible drawers
and storage boxes in the Fashion and Textile Gallery’s study area, The Glass Cube.
Project location - The Glass Cube, the Fashion and Textile Gallery, The Bowes Museum
The primary objectives of The Glass Cube and the concept and design behind the space are
directly connected to recurring access issues relating to collection care, curatorial needs and
researcher/visitor wishes within the Fashion and Textile Department.
The space will hold a significant part of The Bowes Museum's lace, embroidery, tapestry and
quilt collection improving long term storage and facilitating increased access for object
based research.
The Glass Cube has a variety of functions; it gives the visitor the opportunity to see "behind
the scenes" providing a visible workspace for curators, conservators and volunteers and a
storage area to house part of the fashion and textile collection. This multi-functional space
also works as an area for general and specialist study, talks and demonstrations. The design
even allows for collection interpretation and display, working as a large case for gallery
exhibitions.
The Blackborne Lace Collection background
The Glass Cube in the Fashion and Textile Gallery
The Blackborne Lace is a historic collection, including study collections and the surviving stock and
documentary material of the lace dealers A. Blackborne and Company. Anthony Blackborne (1824-
1878) and his son Arthur Blackborne (1856-1952) built up a thriving business, which was at the
forefront of the growing trade in antique lace. Their deep knowledge, and the rarity of many of the
pieces they acquired, earned The Blackborne Collection worldwide recognition. In 2006, the
descendants of Antony and Arthur Blackborne presented the entire collection, of approximately
5,000 pieces to The Bowes Museum.
Project outcomes and developments
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Digital Record
A database has been created to record the accession number, category, date, type,
condition and location of The Blackborne Lace Collection.
Storage, Conservation and Display
Lace from the 5 main collection categories is being selected and relocated into accessible
drawers and storage boxes within the study area.
The storage and display solutions have been established for the lace collection, which allow
for increased accessibility and assist with collections management and care.
Main issue and result
A substantial amount of the lace Study Collection was originally mounted on purple silk, which had
started to break down, shattering into small pieces. It was evident that the dye used in the fabric had
in some instances transferred onto the lace. Therefore, it was concluded for reasons relating to
continuity of display, increased stability and long term storage, that it was necessary to re-mount the
whole of the Study Collection on Correx board covered in Baumann’s conservation grade fabric. A
few examples of lace have been left with their original mounts to highlight how they were previously
displayed. This decision, though integral to the successful display and care of the collection, has
substantially increased the time spent on this section of the project. It also required focused training
and added commitment from the team of volunteers working on the project.
Original mount
New storage
Project Outcomes
The relocation and digital documentation has allowed for increased access and study. A variety of
collaborative projects, research, loan requests and exhibitions, which already have occurred as a
result of the project, have highlighted the potential of The Blackborne Collection as a study resource
and The Glass Cube as an integral element to the Fashion and Textile Gallery and the textile
department. There has been a growing interest and enthusiasm for the collection and increasing
demand for access, as more people become aware of the resource.
Acknowledgments: I would like to acknowledge Santina Levey Fashion and Textile historian,
Caroline Rendell, Textile Conservator, Joanna Hashagen Keeper, of Textiles and the team of textile
volunteers at The Bowes Museum as they have all contributed to The Blackborne Lace Project.
38

NEWS and EVENTS
LIFE IN THE OLD CLOTHES YET?: ACCESSIONING, DE - ACCESSIONING AND DEALING WITH DONORS…
As a discussion at the last DATS committee meeting revealed, there are few curators who don’t have
a story about garments which have either been previously donated, or recently offered, to their
collections which really aren’t suitable for retention.
I’m not advocating a mass disposal of all items that people feel are taking up valuable space in
already overcrowded stores, but my own recent experience with donors desperate to donate
garments to a museum led me to begin research into finding alternative homes for their precious
items…
I therefore wanted to write this plea to DATS members to help me begin to assemble a list of
institutions who might be able to make use of that “important” Wedding Dress; those scraps of
fabric which “we might be able to use to ‘restore some of our items”; that faded and slightly moth
eaten, suit, in fact of any items which could never be displayed, and yet might still offer a useful
reference point for research.
I’m particularly interested in identifying teaching collections within universities or independent
institutions where we can confidently assure prospective donors that their garments will be used for
research and valued.
Any information, or contacts, that members could provide for their regions would be gratefully
received! Contact Veronica Isaacs v.isaac@vam.ac.uk or veronica.isaac@runnymede.gov.uk
____
The Textile Society is a charity which promotes
the history, culture and study of textiles.
Established in 1982 it is 30years old this year, so
as well as offering the usual annual awards and
bursaries, which includes the Museum Award,
this year the society is also offering two new
awards: the Conservation Award and the Natalie
Rothstein Silk Award.
The Conservation Award of £2,000 is for a textile conservation project within a museum or archive.
The Award is designed to support the conservation of a textile related object/s from a collection that
will help achieve greater awareness and access for the public. This together with the use of new
technologies, where appropriate, will also be considered. Deadline 1 st April 2012.
The Natalie Rothstein Silk Award Natalie Rothstein was an eminent curator and researcher of
textiles at the V & A. Her specialist field of study was the English silk industry from 1600-1850. The
Textile Society has received donations in her memory to fund two activities, first, a piece of critical
writing on new research, which reflects a continuity of Natalie’s research interests and philosophies.
Second, the finalists will be invited to present their papers at a special symposium on the theme of
silk in spring 2013. The sum of £1000 will be awarded to the winning paper. Deadline 31 st August
2012.
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The Museum Award is an annual award of £3000 for a textile related project within a museum or
archive. It is designed to support projects such as exhibitions or publication that will help achieve
greater awareness and access to the public. Deadline this year will be 1 st June 2012.
The Professional Development Award is an annual award of £1000, which is aimed at professionals
who wish to progress in their career and have a genuine enthusiasm for their project. The deadline
date for this is August 1 st 2012.
For more information on the awards see www.textilesociety.org.uk
The Textile Society’s 3rd London Antique Textiles Fair will be held on the 7th
October 2012 at Chelsea Old Town Hall, London SW3. For more information see the website or email
atf@textilesociety.org.uk
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Fashion at the V&A www.vam.ac.uk/page/f/fashion
Redesigned Fashion Gallery
The V&A’s fashion gallery has been housed in Gallery 40 since the 1950s and is one of the most
popular in the Museum. As part of the ambitious FuturePlan to transform the Museum, the fashion
gallery is currently undergoing architectural renovation and redesign by 6a Architects. It will re-open
in May 2012 to coincide with the Ballgowns exhibition.
It will open with a completely re-curated display of fashion from the collection, led by the V&A’s
Senior Fashion Curator, Claire Wilcox. Around 100 outfits will be arranged chronologically to reflect
the quality and breadth of the V&A’s collections. It will include many outstanding items, from a
magnificent mantua from the 1760s, a man’sfrock coat from the 1790s, to an 1850s wedding dress
with veil and shoes and a splendid magenta silk crinoline by Mme. Vignon from the 1860s. There will
be late 19th-century tailored costumes and high laced walking boots, an embroidered evening coat
in the Japanese style by Worth, brightly coloured flapper dresses with an ostrich fan and early tennis
wear and swimwear. Also on display will be a Schiaparelli evening coat with embroidered design by
Jean Cocteau, a black satin evening dress by Charles James accessorised with an aluminium Art Deco
evening bag, a Utility suit with Ascher printed silk scarf, ‘Zemire’ by Christian Dior (1954), as well as
other evening dresses by Balmain, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Lanvin Castillo. Op Art designs, works
by Ossie Clark and an original Biba dress worn by Barbara Hulanicki will represent British fashion in
the 1960s and 1970s. A punk outfit by Vivienne Westwood will rub shoulders with a deconstructed
ensemble by Comme des Garcons while a case dedicated to contemporary fashion will include
recent acquisitions from Versace, Gaultier, Armani, Helmut Lang, Dior and Dries van Noten. These
will be accompanied by shoes by Nicholas Kirkwood and Prada, and fashion photography by Tim
Walker. The renovation of the gallery will allow a new, multi-faceted approach to the display,
which will incorporate underwear, accessories, textiles, lace, fans, scarves, and jewellery. Fashion
dolls, miniature dresses, pattern books, photographs, portraits and chairs from each period will
provide contextual background.
The Architectural Refurbishment
Gallery 40 was designed as a spectacular Edwardian domed court with large alcoves,
architectural columns and ornate mosaic flooring. The refurbishment project will reveal and restore
the gallery’s original architecture to provide a sense of grandeur, ambience and light. The project will
enhance the features of the domed ceiling with a new lighting scheme. The gallery will be fully
redecorated, the mosaic floor will be revealed and restored, and the original grand entrances and
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vistas reopened, reinstating the dramatic scale and architecture of the gallery. This project will also
reclaim the mezzanine gallery for displays of fashion and textiles, adding over 400 square metres of
display space.
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Kensington Palace, London, W8 4PX www.hrp.org.uk
Kensington Palace will reopen on 26 March 2012 after the conclusion of a £12 million pound
transformation. Four new narrative routes will allow visitors to explore Kensington’s history since
1688, while a temporary summer exhibition, opening on 24 May 2012, will explore Queen Victoria’s
Diamond Jubilee. Woven into these exhibitions will be displayed examples of royal and ceremonial
dress from Kensington’s Designated Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. At the heart of the new
entrance space of the palace will be a specially commissioned light sculpture designed and made by
design studio Loop.pH, which has been inspired by historic lace from Kensington’s dress collection.
The palace’s new permanent exhibition Victoria Revealed explores Queen Victoria’s life and reign
through her own words. Set within the very rooms that Victoria lived in as a child the exhibition
brings together an extraordinary, rich collection of over 300 objects including paintings, furniture,
jewellery and sculpture. Items of dress include Victoria’s wedding dress and early examples of her
mourning dress, as well as her first pair of baby shoes, mourning jewellery and Prince Albert’s
dressing case, all providing a truly intimate account of her extraordinary life.
The radically transformed State Apartments will tell two stories. Through the Queen’s Apartments
the fragile history of the Stuart Dynasty will be uncovered, in an installation created by theatre
makers Coney. Coney have also devised a hidden game to be discovered in the King’s Apartments,
which explores the social and political games at court, as everyone vied succeed and obtain the eye
of the King. Beautiful pieces of 18 th century court dress including a Spitalfields mantua and George
III coronation robes will be on display.
A small but elegant display Diana, glimpses of a modern princess will contain five dresses worn by
the Princess of Wales and showcase the Princess’s evolving style over the years. It includes the
famous Emanuel-designed black silk taffeta strapless gown worn by the newly-engaged princess in
1981 and a classic Versace dress which she wore in her later life.
Jubilee – A view from the crowd tells the story of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 from the
perspective of the thousands of people who celebrated it from duchesses to newspaper sellers.
Items of dress include the lace flounce from Queen Victoria’s wedding dress (worn for her Diamond
Jubilee portrait) and the Duchess of Devonshire’s dress for her fancy dress ball held in the same
year.
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Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
CECS Day Conference at the King's Manor, University of York, Exhibition Square, York
Saturday 23 June 2012, 9.30AM to 5.00pm
Desiring Fashion: The Consumption and Dissemination of Dress 1750-1850
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This day conference brings together academic and curatorial work on the desire to dress fashionably
in the eighteenth century. From faces to feet, the fashionable men and women of the eighteenth
century strove to achieve aesthetic perfection. This series of papers explores the process of fashion
dissemination, production and consumption which enabled the fulfilment of these desires, and how
this related to the concepts of desire, gender and beauty. The papers to be presented cover subjects
such as cosmetics and beauty, fashion plates, silk manufacture and the relationship between
dressmaker and client. A small exhibition of fashion plates and accessories from the period will
accompany the conference.
For details of speakers see
http://www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-century-studies/events/desiringfashionconferencejune2012/
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Reinventing the Corset – Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
‘Reinvention corsets’ are a range of corsets created by the Costume Project at the Ironbridge Gorge
Museum Trust, Shropshire. Historic corsets are used as the inspiration to create this modern
interpretation which explores key functions of the original design.
The Costume Project has been producing bespoke clothing for museums since 2004, specialising in
reproducing eighteenth and nineteenth century costume. The aim is to make historic costume more
engaging and accessible to the public. All work is based on original patterns and historic sources, and
the bespoke services offer three levels of interpretation.
Reproduction costume is a faithful copy of an original historic costume, which can be used for display
but also allows visitors to get close to and interact with the textiles.
Reconstruction costume can be worn and tried on by staff or visitors, and whilst it retains the look
and function of the original clothing, it is graded to modern sizes and uses robust materials.
The unique Reinvention range of corsets was born out of a partnership
between the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and the Fashion
Museum, Bath. They are a fun and accessible ‘try-on activity’ that give
an immediate impression of what it was like to wear a corset. The
corsets use rucksack clips, cord and toggles as their fastenings – items
that everyone is familiar with and know how to use, removing barriers
between the public and the corset. The corsets are made of an
upholstery fabric which is incredibly robust and stands up to intense
visitor use and include bold front and back labels, with text and
Image: Ironbridge Gorge pictures.
Museum Trust
A Reinvention range of corsets are currently being produced for the First Garden City Heritage
Museum, Letchworth, to complement their exciting upcoming exhibition: The Spirella Company -
Corset Makers & Corsetieres which will run from 26 March 2012 – March 2013.
Reproduction, Reconstruction and Reinvention are essential in costume interpretation as they
encourage a deeper understanding of the history of clothing by allowing visitors to try-on, explore
and interact with the garments instead of only gazing upon historic costume that is behind glass.
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The Costume Project studio is based in Enginuity, part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, has
regular open afternoons – for more information please email gillian.crumpton@ironbridge.org.uk or
visit the website www.ironbridge.org.uk
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Current and forthcoming exhibitions
London
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7, www.vam.ac.uk
Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 19 May 2012 – 6 January 2013
A spectacular exhibition of more than 60 ballgowns from 1950 to the present day will go
on display at the V&A next May in the newly renovated Fashion Galleries and will feature beautiful
ballgowns, red carpet evening gowns and catwalk showstoppers.
Golden Spider SilkGol Until 5 June 2012 den Spider Silk
The V&A plays host to the world's largest pieces of cloth made from spider silk.
Amazingly beautiful, but possibly not one for any arachnophobes out there.
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Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3XF www.ftmlondon.org
Designing Women - The Art of Textile Design in Postwar Britain 16 March – 16 June
2012
Pop! Culture and Fashion 1955 – 1976 6 July - 27 October 2012
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The Design Museum, Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YD www.designmuseum.org
Christian Louboutin 1 May – 9 July 2012
The Design Museum presents the first UK retrospective of iconic French shoe designer Christian
Louboutin, celebrating a career which has pushed the boundaries of high fashion shoe design.
Southeast of England
Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0JH www.waddesdon.org.uk
Diplomatic Dress: The Rothschilds as Consuls General of Austria 28 March-28
October 2012
Driving and Sporting Pursuits: A Selection of Gloves lent by the Worshipful
Company of Glovers’ Charity 28 March-28 October 2012
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There are three costume displays at Waddesdon for the 2012 season. A selection of lace acquired by
Baroness Edmond de Rothschild (1853-1935), shows 18 th -century lappets, part of a fashionable
woman’s headdress. Baroness Edmond collected the exquisite French, Brussels and Venetian lace
now at Waddesdon, along with the popular buttons, on long-term display. Also featured is a pair of
uniforms, newly on loan from the Rothschild family, thought to have been worn by Baron James de
Rothschild (1792-1868) and his son, Gustave (1829-1911), as Consuls-General of Austria. Finally,
pairs of early 20 th century gloves for driving are displayed, exploring the Rothschild family interest in
cars and on loan from the Worshipful Company of Glovers. You can find out more about the history
of the Company and their historic glove collections at www.thegloverscompany.org
Southwest of England
TOTNES FASHION & TEXTILE MUSEUM, Bogan House, 43 High Street, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5NP,
www.devonmuseums.net
SPORTS & SPECTATORS - THEN & NOW, 1880 – 2012
22 May to 28 September 2012
The 2012 Summer Exhibition will show clothing worn by recent local
sporting heroes (including Olympians) and their historic counterparts,
along with clothing worn by spectators of various periods.
The Museum, home of the Devonshire Collection of Period Costume, is housed in the most intact
Tudor merchant's house in Totnes. The Collection includes items of clothing from c1650 to the end
of the C20th. Research opportunities available by appointment Tuesday to Friday inclusive, 11 am to
5 pm (last entry 4.30 pm). Outside these times and during October by appointment.
Midlands and Wales
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP,
www.northampton.gov.uk
Dress the World: The World at Your Feet 31 March – 23 September 2012
The World at Your Feet explores the role of shoe fashion in creating cultural identity through the
Museum’s world footwear collection. Join us on a journey across the world looking at how shoe
traditions are symbolically involved in key moments in people’s lives including birth, coming of age,
marriage and death. www.dresstheworld.co.uk
North of England
Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester
www.manchestergalleries.org.uk
From 2 June 2012, in the temporary exhibitions gallery, the Gallery of Costume will be showing
photographic portraits from three Mali artists, mainly taken in the 1960s and 70s. They are very
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powerful images! The three below are by a photographer called Male and are lent by the National
Museum of Mali.
From Wednesday 15 Feb until June 30 2012, the large 18th century display will be reconfigured with
interventions led by a group of young people in collaboration with the Stories of the World project.
Smart new cases made by Mayveart, a Belgian company, have been installed in the 17th century
gallery and with new outfits and pieces chosen for display, including a remarkable pink silk bodice
embroidered with a feather design in black bugle beads, and dating to the 1650s, from March 2012.
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Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Market Square, Preston, PR1 2PP www.harrismuseum.org.uk
Uthra Rajgopal has been working at the Harris Museum on the
Preston Guild costume collection. The photo shows Uthra working
on a Venetian fancy dress costume, as worn by the Guild
Mayoress, Mabel Astley-Bell in the 1922 Guild. This costume, along
with other pieces from the collection, including diary accounts,
ephemera and photographs will go on display on 27th July 2012 at
the Harris Museum. The exhibition has been designed to mark this
year's Preston Guild celebrations and will take a look at how
'dressing up' for pageants, costume balls and trades processions all
played an integral part in reinforcing civic pride in the town. The
Preston Guild is celebrated every twenty years and the town was
first granted its Royal Charter in 1179. Uthra has been working
alongside Stephanie Murfin who is now the acting Keeper of
Decorative Arts while Caroline Alexander is on maternity leave.
Anthea Jarvis will also be visiting the Harris to look at the collection
in March. Uthra Rajgopal has been generously supported by a
research grant provided by the Coats Foundation Trust.
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Lotherton Hall, Off Collier Lane, Aberford, Leeds, LS25 3EB www.leeds.gov.uk/lothertonhall
The Victorian Look Book - Fashion and Furnishings 1837-1901
2 March 2012 to 31 January 2013
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The Victorians drew upon a rich archive of global and historical influences when choosing what they
wore and how they decorated their homes. This exhibition explores the styles that dominated the
period. From Gothic to Aesthetic, Exotic to Arts and Crafts visitors will discover and find their
favourite Victorian look.
Temple Newsam House, Temple Newsam Road, Off Selby Road, Leeds, LS15 0AE
www.leeds.gov.uk/templeNewsamhouse
Bedtime Stories Chapter Two: Beds and Bedding in Britain 1650 -1850 Opens May
15 2012
This is the second part of the year-long celebration of beds at Temple Newsam House accompanying
the major restoration of the Queen Anne State Bed. This exhibition explores the history of beds and
the social and material culture of bedrooms in Britain between 1650-1850. On display will be a
selection of fine and decorative arts, textiles and costume which tell the bedtime stories of Early
Modern Britain.
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Quilt Museum and Gallery, St Anthony's Hall, Peasholme Green, York, YO1 7PW
www.quiltmuseum.org.uk
Celebrating Diversity 4 May – 1 September 2012 An international exhibition of new quilts
and textiles from the European Quilt Association
Small is beautiful 4 May – 1 September 2012 An exhibition of some our smaller items from
the collection, including miniatures, cot quilts and even tea cosies.
Scotland
National Museum of Costume, Shambellie House New Abbey, Dumfries DG2 8HQ
Off the Peg: Fashion from the 40s and 50s 1 April 2012 – 31 October 2012
Be transported back to an era of elegance and glamour in our 2012 special exhibition. Evening
gowns, day dresses, beach wear and housecoats in bold innovative prints form the centre piece of
this dazzling exhibition organised in conjunction with The Fashion & Textile Museum, London. Find
out more at www.nms.ac.uk/offthepeg
Fabulous 50s Day on Sun 22 July 11:00–16:00
Recapture the glamour of the fabulous 50s at our family event. Watch Lucy from The History
Wardrobe as she sheds her rubber gloves and transforms herself from domestic drudge to domestic
goddess. Dress up in vintage clothing and pose for your own Fifties snapshot. Look out for crafts and
style tips, all set to a rock and roll soundtrack.
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Dovecot Studios, Dovecot, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT, www.dovecotstudios.com
Weaving the Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012 13 Jul - 07 Oct 2012
The first major exhibition of tapestry in Scotland for over 20 years and the highlight of the Dovecot’s
centenary year celebrations in 2012.
Books
The Art of Modern Tapestry: Dovecot Studios from 1912 edited by Elizabeth
Cumming, (Lund Humphries/Dovecot Studios, July 2012)
Setting out to celebrate, document and discuss the work and role of an international tapestry
workshop, Dovecot Studios, since its foundation in Edinburgh in 1912, this ground-breaking
publication uniquely explores the artistic value, nature and identity of modern tapestry through
images, essays and the commentaries of weavers, artists and patrons.
Artist Designed Textiles 1940-1976, Geoffrey Rayner, Richard Chamberlain and
Annamarie Stapleton (Antique Collectors' Club, June 2012)
An important and comprehensive survey of textile design, featuring over 200 colour
illustrations. Includes exciting new discoveries and never-before-seen designs, alongside specially
commissioned photography.
Facing Beauty: Painted Women and Cosmetic Art, Aileen Ribeiro, (Yale University
Press, 2012)
TEXTILES Critical and Primary Sources, Edited by Catherine Harper, (Berg Publishing, 2012)
Textiles: Critical and Primary Sources is a major multi-volume reference work that draws together 80
seminal texts on textiles. Textile culture stretches geographic, historical, methodological and
disciplinary boundaries, and defies chronological ordering. The contents are therefore gathered into
four thematic collections dealing with history and curation; production and sustainability; science
and technology; and identity, each supported by an introductory editorial essay that serves to
critique and supplement each textual collection and theme.
February 2012 / 4 volumes / 1,600pp HB SET 978 0 85785 035 5 £550
Irish People, Irish Linen, Kathleen Curtis Wilson, (Ohio University Press, 2011)
The Princess and Dior’s New Look - Free download from Maney Publishing
To mark the 65th anniversary of "New Look", the first collection by Christian Dior, Maney Publishing
are making the recently published article in Costume by Beatrice Behlen, `Does Your Highness feel
like a gold person or a silver one?' Princess Margaret and Dior free to download . Recent research by
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Beatrice Behlen reveals the extensive relationship between Princess Margaret and the House of
Dior. Margaret was considered a patron of the house until her death in 2002.
The article ’Does Your Highness feel like a gold person or a silver one?’ Princess Margaret and Dior by
Beatrice Behlen is published in Volume 46 No.1 (January 2012), of Costume. The article is available
free of charge during Paris Fashion Week from February 28 - March 7, 2012 at
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cos/2012/00000046/00000001/art00004
Costume, published by Maney Publishing on behalf of The Costume Society of Great Britain, is a
scholarly, refereed publication presenting current research into contemporary and historic dress.
The journal publishes articles from a broad chronological period and with a worldwide remit; it
maintains a balance between practice and theory and concentrates on the social significance of
dress. The journal also includes reviews and listings of new books, journal articles and exhibitions.
For more information visit www.maney.co.uk/journals/cos
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