Spring Newsletter 2020

Contents Page

DATS Conference 3-11

Alice Power, Collecting Pride T-shirts 3 Jane Hattrick, Queering Extant Costume Collections: 4-6 The Case of Norman Hartnell’s Sequinned Pyjamas Martin Pel, Queer Looks: Creating a Collection 6 Ruth Battersby Tooke, Frayed: Textiles on the Edge. 6-7 Curating an exhibition of therapeutic textiles Danielle Sprecher, The Westminster Menswear Archive: 7-8 Building a Collection Rebecca Quinton, Researching the Legacies of Slavery 8 in Glasgow Museums’ Collections Rachel Heminway Hurst, Fashioning Africa; Post-colonial 8-9 collecting in collaboration with communities Rebecca Shawcross, I Stand Corrected? New Perspectives 9 on Orthopaedic Footwear Rachael Lee, Frida Kahlo: Making Her Up 9-10 Georgina Ripley, Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk 10-11 News 11-13 Exhibitions and Events 13-25 Books 25-25

Editor: Sarah Jane Stevens, AMA Contact: [email protected]

Front cover image: The Survival of Glamour. Photo by Michael Alexander, Staverton © Totnes Fashion and Textiles Museum.

DATS Conference November 2019

Redressing Diversity: Making hidden histories visible

This two-day conference explored how dress and textiles can be used to make hidden histories more visible and accessible within museums. Museums are increasingly looking to diversify their collections, audiences and outputs. The conference looked at what part dress and textile collections play in trying to represent BME, Deaf, disabled, LGBTQIA+ and other hidden histories. It revealed how curators, co-curators and community collaborators discovered stories within existing collections and undertook new collecting?

Queer Stories

Alice Power, Collecting Pride T-shirts

Abstract In recent years, it has become common place for high street and online retailers across Europe to release apparel lines to tie in with Pride celebrations each summer. Questions over who profits from the sale of these items and the ethics of their production has garnered much criticism around this practice. Nonetheless, these product ranges continue to be produced and sold, some with the support of major LGBTQ organisations.

From small scale screen printing to globally distribute fast fashion, Pride t-shirts can reveal much about the lived experiences of their contemporary queer communities. It is an item of apparel that can both form the focus of an ensemble, but also can be easily concealed under layers. As a generally low-cost item, it can be purchased for a single occasion or campaign and rarely worn thereafter, allowing the wearer to take risks in queer visibility that they may not with other items of clothing. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a modest selection of Pride t-shirts from the early 1980’s to the early 2000’s in its fashion and textiles collection. Looking at these objects and their associated acquisition material unveils rarely recorded details of pre-Internet age queer consumerism, where such t-shirts were bought at stalls, specialist shops or through mail order.

My paper looked at what the consumption and production of Pride t-shirts can tell us about queer communities that engage with them. I used the museum’s collection to form the basis of this paper but also looked at contemporary examples of Pride t-shirts, such as those produced by DIY communities and through small production market style sites like etsy that tend to cater to lesser represented groups and intersectional LGBTQ identities, as well as the large high street brands that lean more toward the mass market. It highlighted the importance of collecting pride t-shirts in museums and archives as an indicator of diverse and changing queer communities.

Biography Alice Power is Assistant Curator of the Design, Architecture and Digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She works across the department, in particular with the Rapid Response Collecting gallery and contemporary collecting strand. She is also co-chair of the Museums LGBTQ Working Group.

Jane Hattrick, Queering Extant Costume Collections: The Case of Norman Hartnell’s Sequinned Pyjamas

Abstract Extant collections of dress and textiles in museums today are categorised according to binary, gender and sexual norms, reflecting social practice at the time of their accession. Clothing, however, can be worn to reproduce an individual’s internalised gender which may not correspond with their sex. According to Judith Butler’s, complex, ‘gender crossings’, we also understand that gender identity is not a predictor of sexual orientation, yet the stories of clothing that appear to us feminine or masculine, might be assumed to correspond with heterosexual identities and disappeared into museum collections; the alternative biographies of these garments erased.

To queer (as method) a museum collection is to transgress, disrupt or unsettle these established categories. My case study took place in the large, privately held collection of dress designed by the London couturier, Norman Hartnell, whose fashion house was active during 1923-1979. The collection comprises model-gowns, kept as representative of his house style, using signature embroideries and fabrics in his favoured colour palate. Of all the couture garments in Hartnall’s archive, a pastel blue lace pyjama suit embroidered with pink sequins and matching beaded sandals dating from the 1950s seemed incongruous. In comparison with the model gowns, the ensemble is quite tatty, clumsily mended and not very clean. Considerably larger in terms of measurements, it is not tailored to a feminine figure and the satin sandals are very large with no heel. Hesitant, I boxed these silent garments. Returning to undertake a material culture analysis of this ensemble through a queer lens I was able to challenge my initial belief that the ensemble had been worn by a larger, female client, hypothesising that the size nine sandals indicated perhaps the client been male.

As curator Valerie Steele has written, there is ‘nothing shameful about variant sexuality’. The paper explored ways in which, in this age of self-identification, we can use an interdisciplinary, case study approach to items of clothing in collections to uncover what might be wider, hidden cultural practices of those who lived out their LGBTQ+ lives pre-liberation.

Paper Conclusion

Of all the couture garments in the Norman Hartnell archive, a pastel blue lace pyjama suit embroidered with pink sequins and matching beaded sandals seemed incongruous. In comparison with the selection of model gowns in the collection, the ensemble is quite tatty, clumsily mended, not very clean and rather smelly. Larger in terms of measurements than the model gowns, although for a person of reasonably slender waist and long leg, the suit jacket is not tailored to a female figure and the satin sandals are very large with no heel. Initially baffled, these garments remained silently boxed up.

Extant collections of dress and textiles in museums today are categorised according to binary, gender and sexual norms, reflecting social practice at the time of their accession. Garments are categorised as either designed and made for and worn by men or women and accessioned as such. Clothing and textiles, however, can be worn on the body to represent the individual’s internalised gender which may not correspond with their sex. In the context of Judith Butler’s, complex, ‘gender crossings’, we also understand that gender identity is not a predictor of sexual orientation (Butler, 2004, 80), yet the stories of clothing that appear to us feminine or masculine, might be assumed to

4 correspond with heterosexual identities, disappeared into museum collections, and the alternative biographies of these garments could be lost.

Returning to undertake a material culture analysis of this ensemble through a queer lens, I was able to challenge my initial belief that the ensemble had been worn by a larger, female client, hypothesising that the size nine sandals indicated perhaps the client been male. With the later discovery of a snapshots of Hartnell in a similar pyjama suit taken in 1953 along with personal interviews with workroom staff, who had produced similar outfits for Hartnell, it became clear over time that this suit was made for his personal use. A gay man and lifetime cross-dresser, Hartnell expressed his sexual subjectivity through the performance of an internalised femininity, which involved the wearing of ultra-feminine garments and accessories associated with normative femininity of the day. These garments, designed by Hartnell for his personal and very private use represent his taste in colours and embellishments but also for textiles and textures – the feel of sequins and silk net against his skin.

In a draft version of his memoir, published in 1955, and in various other forms of life writing and personal letters in the archive, Hartnell had expressed some anxiety about his perceived effeminacy and sexuality, which continued to be problematic for a life lived under the spotlight. These references were edited out of his finished book, considered unpublishable by his editor at the time. He also admitted to loathing ‘manure coloured tweed’ for ‘work-a-day’ clothes, and preferring the silks, satins and velvets and designing the evening-wear for his collections. Nevertheless, he chose to wear tweed jackets in public, and self-presented as both debutante (in private after 1923) and dandy in tailored menswear from the top Savile Row tailors and suppliers, albeit with a touch of dandy, coded ‘glamour’ associated with homosexuality, with his well-oiled, wavy hair and long, manicured fingernails. Wearing tweed by day and silk net dresses embroidered with sequins by night, Hartnell performed his gender-crossing, public and private persona; avoiding detection was essential. As a gay man, he walked what Richard Dyer has described as ‘the thin line between passing and flaunting’ (2002: 64), either passing as heterosexual or visibly flaunting his queer sexuality according to the context in which he found himself in.

Norman Hartnell’s alternative sexuality and gender expression informs his identity and practice…it is impossible to take his queerness out of his life. These well-worn garments represent the designer’s body of work in terms of fabric, colour and embellishment whilst at the same time clothing his intimate physical body with an alternative gender identity; his ‘interior essence’ (Butler, 1990:9). They also represent a very private use of a couture wardrobe, turning the meaning of the public wearing of perfect, couture clothes on its head.

These garments and their corresponding visual and material culture evidence provide the evidence with which Hartnell designed garments in collections all over the world could be ‘queered’.

This case study has percolated over a very long, time period since 2005 when I first began working with the archive and decorative objects. Every scrap of paper, decorative object and worn garment has been very carefully thought about and used as evidence pieced together to produce a fragile picture of an even more fragile man and his personal and public life.

I feel that ‘hidden’ is too innocuous word to use for the ongoing erasure of the queer history and culture of the gay male fashion designer. As curator Valerie Steele has written, there is ‘nothing

5 shameful about variant sexuality’. This paper has explored ways in which, in this age of self- identification, we can overcome issues of shame, loss and lack of documentary sources, by using an interdisciplinary, case study approach to queer items of clothing in collections and uncover what might be wider, hidden cultural practices of those who lived out their LGBTQ+ lives pre-liberation.

Biography Dr Jane Hattrick is a design historian currently based in Norwich. Her work queers specific designers’ archives and examines the impact of an individual’s gender and sexual identity on their everyday lives, public and private self-presentation and creative output. Further research interests include LGBTQ+ fashion and style; the fashion designer’s signature and legacy in the 20th and 21st century; interwar craft practice; the history and theory of embroidery as practice; cultures of collecting; fashion curation in museums; and the use of dress, objects and interiors in the performance of self. Jane lectured in Art, Design, Fashion and Dress History at the University of Brighton and other higher education institutions during 2006-2017. Her PhD (2012) concerned the life and work of celebrated London fashion designer Norman Hartnell, in particular how the personal and public identity of a designer can be read through what is left of his creative output and personal and business archive.

Martin Pel, Queer Looks: Creating a Collection

Abstract My paper looked at the Wear it Out 1917 – 2017 a project undertaken by Brighton Museum in partnership with the London College of Fashion and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project looked at how queer individuals construct identities through dress and was split in to two halves. The first half covered the years 1917 to 1967 and explored the life of the artist Gluck who left a large collection of clothing to the museum in 1978. The second half, 1967 to 2017, was a collecting project which looked at how contemporary LGBTQ+ individuals constructed identities through dress and fashion. The Wear it Out project aimed to make visible queer individuals within the museum’s galleries and to collect the stories of individuals told through dress from Brighton’s large and vibrant queer communities for future history.

Biography Martin Pel is curator of fashion at the Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove. He has published books on Biba and 1920s fashion. He curator the exhibition, Gluck: Art & Identity, for Brighton Museum with Professor Amy de la Haye (University of the Arts, London). Martin is DATS representative of the East and on the Advisory Board of The Journal of Dress History.

Collecting Hidden Histories

Ruth Battersby Tooke, Frayed: Textiles on the Edge. Curating an exhibition of therapeutic textiles

Abstract

The exhibition Frayed: Textiles on the Edge was held at the Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life in 2013 displaying both historic textiles and contemporary art to explore the ways in which textiles have been used to busy the hands while stilling the mind and serve as a medium for creative expression.

The exhibition centred around the extraordinary embroidered letters of Lorina Bulwer (1838-1912) made while she was resident in the Female Lunatic Ward of Great Yarmouth Workhouse. These testimonies, the longest of which is 3 m, were made by creating a double thickness patchwork of various textiles which are held together by Lorina’s stitched text which takes the form of a stream of consciousness encompassing personal memories, allusions to contemporary news stories and accusations levelled towards her family.

Other works included in the exhibition were made by people who suffered with long-term ill-health or who were confined in prison and by people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. These works were contextualised with contemporary works by artists such as Tracy Emin and Rosalind Wyatt to show a continuum of textile practice.

This paper addressed issues of sensitively interpreting works made by individuals experiencing mental ill-health and other challenging conditions and the potential for making meaningful connections with audiences. The presentation reflected on the legacy of the exhibition such as new donations to the collection and the creation of a permanent display which has improved the visibility of diverse histories.

Biography Ruth Battersby Tooke has been Curator of Costume and Textiles for Norfolk Museums Service for 13 years. Previous museum experience has included Display Coordination, Access and Interpretation of historic buildings undergoing conservation and Museum Outreach using objects to engage difficult to reach audiences such as adults in day-care facilities. In her current role Ruth has curated ‘Frayed: Textiles on the Edge’, which was shortlisted for the Museums and Heritage Awards in the category of Best Temporary Exhibition.

Danielle Sprecher, The Westminster Menswear Archive: Building a Collection

Abstract Menswear is still a neglected area of dress in museum collections and of research compared to women’s wear; for example none of Alexander McQueen’s designs for men were included in the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition at the V&A. The paper showcased pieces from the Westminster Menswear Archive and discussed them within the context of the gendered nature of the survival and perceptions of men’s fashion, the significance of gay men’s dress and designers, and the challenges of building a collection of menswear from scratch.

The Westminster Menswear Archive was established in 2016 as a teaching collection to encourage and develop the study of menswear design from a technical and functional point of view for the BA Fashion Design and MA Menswear students at the University of Westminster. The archive is also intended to advance the general knowledge of menswear as a design discipline and to be used as a resource tool to inform contemporary menswear design. Users include students, researchers, academics and members of the menswear design industry who consult the collection for research and design inspiration.

The collection is focussed on pieces from around 1900 to the present day and broadly covers three themes: designer, utilitarian and technical, and military. The development of the collection is a testament to the recent upsurge of interest in men’s fashion and its history – this can be seen with

7 the establishment of London Collections Men in 2012, the journal Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion first published in 2014, and major exhibitions such as Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear 1715-2015 at LACMA in Los Angeles.

Biography Menswear Archive Curator, Danielle Sprecher, was awarded her PhD in men’s fashion and the Leeds tailoring industry from the University of Leeds in 2016. She has worked as a curator with the historic dress and textile collections at Goldsmiths Textile Collection, Leeds Museums and Galleries, The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles and Colchester and Ipswich Museum Services.

Fashioning Africa

Rebecca Quinton, Researching the Legacies of Slavery in Glasgow Museums’ Collections

Abstract Whilst the British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade has been the subject of decades of research and museum displays in England, in Scotland the topic was widely overlooked or dismissed as ‘It wasnae us.’ However, over the last 10 years or so this opinion has been challenged. At Glasgow Museums curators have been researching the legacies of slavery in the collection with the aim of making these previously hidden or ignored histories visible.

Biography Rebecca Quinton is Research Manager (Art) for Glasgow Museums, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and the current Chair of DATS.

Rachel Heminway Hurst, Fashioning Africa; Post-colonial collecting in collaboration with communities

Abstract Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove (RPM) care for a nationally important collection of historic African textiles. The majority were acquired between 1860 and 1950 by British people working within a colonial context. In 2015 the World Art team at RPM were awarded a Collecting Cultures grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to create a unique collection of African fashion and textiles from 1960-2009.

Fashioning Africa is a three-year project employing innovative new approaches to develop a collection, in collaboration with African diaspora local residents and academic specialists. The strategic direction of the collecting project has been informed by regular consultation with this external collecting panel. This has enabled RPM to develop a collection that brings new meaning and relevance to the historic collection of African textiles and uncovers stories about post-colonial African identities and UK African diaspora identities through fashion and style.

The paper discussed the methodology employed and presented case studies exploring how the collection has been realised. Through exploring the successes and challenges of the project, this paper determined to what extend the project has achieved the aim of ‘creating a new body of material which will bring fresh meaning and relevance to our historic dress and textile holdings and to our audiences.’

Biography Rachel Heminway Hurst is Curator of World Art at Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove. Before taking up this post Rachel worked as curator and project manager on the Uniques project, uncovering and providing access to orphaned world cultures collections in Kent and Sussex. Since 2015 Rachel has been working on improving access to and collections care for the African collection and working on co-curated displays and events with BME community partners. She is currently collecting material for the Fashioning Africa collection and curating Framing Fashion, a display showcasing a newly acquired post-colonial collection of African photography.

Diversity and Fashion

Rebecca Shawcross, I Stand Corrected? New Perspectives on Orthopaedic Footwear

Abstract In 2007 Northampton Museum and Art Gallery took part in an innovative UK-wide project looking at rethinking disability representation in museums. Our focus was the small orthopaedic footwear collection. Consisting of 60 examples spanning the 20th century, it was a collection with no contextual personal references by either wearers or makers.

The paper explored how we used this collection as a starting point to challenge and provoke our visitors to think about the issues that surround orthopaedic shoe users, and how their experiences can relate to our own. Through oral testimonies with orthopaedic shoe users, shoemakers and the Neuromuscular Department and Podiatric team at Northampton Hospital the resulting exhibition took as its lead these voices to question assumptions and encourage debate.

The project encouraged visitors to look differently at Northampton’s shoe collection; to see the often surprising similarities between high fashion and orthopaedic footwear and also to consider the wider implications of the differences between them. Visitors were prompted to consider their own experiences and views of footwear and function through a range of shoe types and media. The project aimed to engage visitors in debates about wider issues of identity, choice and control for those considered ‘nonstandard’ by mass manufacturers. We were also able to undertake some contemporary collecting and recognise how the project’s legacy will inform the new shoe gallery.

Biography Rebecca Shawcross has been the Senior Shoe Curator at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery since 1998. She is responsible for the Designated Shoe Collection, which includes collections management, exhibitions, research and enquiries, talks and advising other museums and the media. In November 2014 her book Shoes: An Illustrated History was published by Bloomsbury.

Rachael Lee, Frida Kahlo: Making Her Up

Abstract The V&A’s 2018 exhibition Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, explored how the Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) constructed her visual identity through make-up, jewellery and costume. By adopting indigenous Mexican dress, Kahlo could emphasis her mixed ethnicity, conceal her physical disabilities and form a unique persona that has transcended generations, cementing her as a 21st century female icon.

The wardrobe, including Kahlo’s famous Tehuana dresses, medical corsets and pre-Hispanic jewellery had been locked away for 50 years in her home, la Casa Azul, now the Museo Frida Kahlo. In early 2017 the V&A had unprecedented access to the collection and for the very first time, the wardrobe was displayed outside of Mexico City at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Mounting the costume of iconic figures is a challenge that the V&A has previously tackled for exhibitions such as Hollywood Costume and David Bowie Is. With ambitious designs and high expectations, the mannequin takes on a multi-functional role, as both conservation mount and interpretive tool. Similarly, developing a mannequin and mounting method that would display Kahlo’s garments with authenticity was deemed crucial to the success of the exhibition narrative. To achieve this the V&A took a new and bold approach toward mannequin design, turning to the latest 3D technologies to create a display figure that embodied Kahlo’s characteristics, whilst avoiding pastiche imitation. This presentation discussed the process of mannequin development and the specific mounting techniques used in the V&A’s interpretation of Frida Kahlo and her wardrobe.

Biography Rachael Lee received a BA (Hons) in costume interpretation from Wimbledon College of Art, United Kingdom, in 2009. Rachael joined the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in 2010 as a costume mounting specialist and went on to complete the V&A’s assistant conservator program in 2014, with a focus on fashion conservation.

In her current role as Textile Conservation Display Specialist, Rachael is responsible for the preparation and mounting of objects for exhibition display, most recently acting as lead conservation liaison for the 2018 exhibition Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up.

Rachael also works with several museums in the UK, including the British Museum, Wellcome Collection and the Pitt Rivers Museum, designing and making mounts for ethnographic costume.

Georgina Ripley, Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk

Abstract The fashion industry has long been criticised for reinforcing beauty and body standards which exclude most people. Yet in recent years the meaning of diversity in fashion has evolved in ways that are impossible to ignore, and the industry is recognising the power of representing wider ideals of beauty unrestricted by age, gender, race, shape and size. Social media has democratised the fashion landscape – altering the power structures of visual media and providing a platform for individuals to advocate for inclusivity, with the catwalk slowly beginning to reflect these new attitudes.

National Museums Scotland’s exhibition, Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk, was the first to explore how and to what extent the fashion industry is championing alternative ideals of beauty and diversifying representation. Organised around five key themes – Disability, Race, LGBTQIA+, Size, and Age – it presented the voices inspiring and driving change as it aimed to connect fashion to a far broader and more meaningful dialogue with contemporary life.

This paper shared some of the lessons learnt in the National Museum’s efforts to give a platform to marginalised voices, to shed light on experiences traditionally hidden from view in fashion imagery, and to improve representation within the museum’s collections and displays.

Biography Georgina Ripley is Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Fashion and Textiles at National Museums Scotland (NMS). She is currently working on a major temporary exhibition on the Little Black Dress (now postponed until June 2021) and the accompanying publication. Georgina curated the touring exhibition Body Beautiful: Diversity on the Catwalk (23 May – 20 October 2019), currently on display at the Textilmuseet in Borås, Sweden, and was the lead curator for the permanent Fashion and Style gallery which opened at the museum in 2016. She has also contributed to exhibitions at NMS including Jean Muir: A Fashion Icon (2008-2009) and Mary Queen of Scots (2013). Georgina sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Dress History, is a board member for the ICOM Costume Committee board and is the DATS Scotland representative.

News

New website for hat historians and enthusiasts

Veronica Main is known to many DATS members for her passion for straw hats. Now that she has retired (she was the Significant Collections Curator, in charge of the Hat Industry and Headwear Collection at Luton Culture) she is taking steps to pass on her wealth of knowledge. In July she launched her website: www.hatplait.co.uk . Her intention is to gradually grow the information available on the site which will enable better understanding and identification of hats in museums and private collections. Initially the site will feature items from her personal collection, but she very much hopes that in time museums with hat and plait collections will give permission for their objects to be included. Veronica would welcome feedback on the website content and suggestions for future content. Since Veronica is the subject expert it is important to capture her knowledge so it can be passed to future generations.

The Daphne Bullard, Kathy Callow, Elizabeth Hammond Association

The Daphne Bullard, Kathy Callow, Elizabeth Hammond Association is a Registered Charity no. 1166336.The Association administers grants for the conservation of objects in Accredited Museums or those working towards Accreditation. All the grants expect that conservation of these objects will lead to the added public benefit of increased access through a variety of methods. The three grants reflect the lives and interests of three remarkable women; all of whom had a passion for historic objects and the way that they record the lives of people in the past.

The Daphne Bullard and Kathy Callow grants commemorate the lives and work of two museum curators. The Elizabeth Hammond grant, administered on behalf of the Costume Society, celebrates the life and interests of an artist, teacher, embroiderer and collector of historic dress and textiles.

Award application forms and guidance notes for applications can be found on the Museum Development East Midlands website at http://mdem.org.uk/support-grants/conservation- grants

The V&A’s Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion

The centre will close to the public on 18th December 2020 – in preparation for the move to our new Collections Research Centre in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

The V&A is working on exciting plans to transform how you can access, explore and experience our world-class collections of art, design and performance through our V&A East project.

Over the next few years over 250,000 objects, 1,000 archival collections and 350,000 library books will be studied, photographed, conserved and packed, ready to move from our current store at Blythe House in Olympia to a new purpose-built collections and research centre in Stratford's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. With new research spaces, a central public collection hall, pop-up displays, performances and screenings, and behind-the-scenes access, we're reinventing how we store our collections – and how you can encounter them.

It's the biggest move of our collections since the Second World War. To prepare for this major move, we will be temporarily closing the Archive and Library Study Room and object appointments services at Blythe House in 2020, before reopening at V&A East in Spring/Summer 2023.

Closure dates

· Object viewing appointments (excluding textiles and fashion): 27 September 2020

· Clothworkers' Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion: 18 December 2020

· Archive & Library Study Room (including Theatre & Performance collections and the Archive of Art & Design): 18 December 2020

Information on access to the V&A Archive and Registry will be published soon.

If you're unsure whether a collection item you'd like to view is affected by these plans, please email: [email protected]

Thousands of objects currently stored at Blythe House are being digitised as part of the project and can be accessed via Search the Collections.

Trowbridge Museum: Onwards and Upwards: Museum Expansion

Celebrating our rich and unique textile heritage and creating an attraction of regional significance The museum has been closed since July 2019, making way for the ‘Onwards and Upwards’ project, our fantastic multi-million-pound expansion of Trowbridge Museum supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Trowbridge Town Council.

‘Onwards and Upwards’ will offer further insight into the rich textile related heritage heart of the town, transforming Trowbridge Museum into a regionally significant heritage attraction. By doubling its size and extending into the second floor of its premises in The Shires, Trowbridge Museum will be more accessible to a wider audience, offer improved facilities and learning opportunities for all ages. The museum can also now display a larger collection of objects than ever before.

Exhibitions and events London

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE Tel. 020 7306 0055 www.npg.org.uk

Beaton’s Bright Young Things, until 7 June 2020

This major new exhibition explores the extravagant world of the glamorous and stylish ‘Bright Young Things’ of the twenties and thirties, seen through the eye of renowned British photographer Cecil Beaton. It will bring to life a deliriously eccentric, glamorous and creative era of British cultural life, combining High Society and the avant-garde, artists and writers, socialites and partygoers.

Featuring the leading cast of the ‘Bright Young Things’, many of whom Beaton would call friends – Anna May Wong, Oliver Messel and Stephen Tennant among others, this show charts Beaton’s transformation from middle-class suburban schoolboy to glittering society figure and the unrivalled star of Vogue. In addition to Beaton’s own portraits, the exhibition also features paintings by friends and artists including Rex Whistler, Henry Lamb, and Augustus John.

The Fan Museum, 12 Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London SE10 8ER Tel. 020 8305 1441 www.thefanmuseum.org.uk

Heroic Figures, until 24th May 2020

The Fan Museum’s upcoming exhibition ‘Heroic Figures’ explores the ways in which, from the eighteenth century to the present day, our perception of the hero or heroine has evolved. The role model of the eighteenth century may have been a Trojan Prince, translated into an opera or depicted in a painting, or on a fan, but today, our heroes are sportsmen and women and stars of the stage and screen. Just as the word fan has an alternative meaning in the twenty first century, so the heroic figure, the helmeted warrior, is no more.

New and old stories evolve on fans in this exhibition which reveals the unexpected and the beautiful.

Textile Society Conference, 'Tools', Saturday 7 November 2020 Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

There annual conference this year will be on the theme of ‘tools’. Save the date and further details to follow.

Textile Society London Antique & Vintage Textile Fair, Sunday 11th October 2020

Chelsea Old Town Hall, King's Road, London SW3 5EE

Textile Society London Antique & Vintage Textile Fair. Image © Textile Society. Visit the fair for a fantastic range of vintage fashion, antique textiles and costume sourced from around the world, for more information please e-mail [email protected]

Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Street, London, SW7 2RL Tel. 020 7942 2000 www.vam.ac.uk

Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, until 21st June 2020

This exhibition presents the kimono as a dynamic and constantly evolving icon of fashion, revealing the sartorial, aesthetic and social significance of the garment from the 1660s to the present day, both in Japan and the rest of the world. See website for more details about the exhibition, https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/kimono-kyoto-to-catwalk.

Royal School of Needlework, Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU Tel. 020 3166 6941 www.royal-needlework.org.uk

Stitch is International, until 2nd December 2020

Stitch is International. Image © Royal School of Neddlework

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) will be opening a new embroidery exhibition at Hampton Court Palace on 29 April. Celebrating stitch around the world, this latest display, called Stitch is International, will feature hand stitched pieces from the RSN’s unique Textiles Collection.

Showcasing a rich range of embellished objects, the exhibition includes textiles from Europe, Turkey, the Arab world, Indian sub-continent, China, Japan, North and South America. Embroidery is an art form which has been used by people from different times and in many different places, including as expressions of high art, folk art and cultural identity. From Guatemalan Huipil designs and a Japanese kimono to Turkish towels and Indian Goldwork, Stitch is International will be a diverse display of stitches, colours, textures and fashions.

Dr Susan Kay-Williams, Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework said: “This exhibition will demonstrate the shared aspects of embroidery - the same stitches worked in different countries

15 and in different patterns, but all part of a shared experience of embellishment. Teaching the diversity of needlework to new generations is at the heart of our core purpose. The exhibition may even trigger the introduction of lost or forgotten stitches to the RSN Stitch Bank - our new world directory resource of stitch that we are currently compiling online. The RSN Stitch Bank will include video, written instructions, illustrations and photographs of each stitch, making it an invaluable source of information for all stitchers across the continents.”

Talk & Tours of Stitch is International start from £16 per person. There are different Tour options including, Talk & Tour, Curator’s Tour, Tour & Taster embroidery workshop and Family Stitch Workshop. Group Tours are also available.

To book visit the website www.royal-needlework.org.uk or email: education@royal- needlework.org.uk. The exhibition is in the RSN’s Embroidery Studios at Hampton Court Palace and only open on set days, so pre-booking is essential.

The South East

Textile Society Visit To Regency Wardrobe Collection, 13th May 2020 11.30 - 15.00pm

The Regency Town House,13 Brunswick Square, Hove, BN3 1EH

An exhibition of embroidered paper garments. In 2017 Stephanie Smart established The House of Embroidered Paper and won our Professional Development award. As artist-in-residence at The Regency Town House her exhibition will feature garments produced of paper and thread, inspired by period. For more detail see http://www.rth.org.uk/ or to book email [email protected].

Chertsey Museum, 33 Windsor Street, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8AT Tel. 01932 565764 www.chertseymuseum.org

Fashion Accessories Gallery

The gallery features shoes, fans, hats, bags, parasols, lace, shoe buckles and jewellery with items from the 17th century to the present day.

Folded and Moulded, until 5th September 2020

Aesthetic style tea gown by Liberty and Co., circa 1897. Image © the Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum. Photo by John Chase Photography.

This exhibition examines beautiful examples of pleating and drapery in women’s fashions from the Olive Matthews Collection at Chertsey Museum. Themed sections relating to wealth and status, ancient influences, decorative applications and practical pleats and drapery allow exploration this subject from all angles. Hands on interactives and visual media will also feature. Garments date from the 18th century to the 2000s and include a beautiful evening gown by Madame Grès, pieces by Issey Miyake, Mariano Fortuny and Ossie Clark as well as a rare and lavish Aesthetic tea gown by Liberty of London. Our important 1780 wedding ensemble, featuring dress, petticoat, hat and shoes will also be included.

Admission to the above displays is FREE.

50th Anniversary Project

The Olive Matthews Collection Trust celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2019 and to mark this important occasion the Trust has commissioned very special group of educational replicas. Our 1780 wedding ensemble, which features in the Folded and Moulded exhibition, will be faithfully reconstructed by historical costumiers Past Pleasures. It was worn by Jane Bailey on the occasion of her wedding to James Wickham Esq. at Holy Trinity Church, Wonston, and will be a wonderful resource for interpretation for many years to come. The group will be launched in September and it will also be the subject of a short film. This takes the replicas back to Wonston church and allows us to see the pieces in their full glory on a real body once more.

For regular updates on the progress of this project, please see Grace Evans, Keeper of Costume’s blog which may be found at http://www.chertseymuseum.org/fashion_blog.

The South West

The Fashion Museum, Bath Assembly Rooms, Bennett St, Bath, BA1 2QH Tel. 01225 477789 www.fashionmuseum.co.uk

Collection Stories, ongoing display

Purple silk satin shoes richly embroidered with glass beads and diamanté, about 1898. Made by Maxen- Gantiez, Paris. © Fashion Museum Bath

Collection Stories will be an exciting new look behind the scenes of the Fashion Museum’s outstanding collection of historical fashionable dress. Buried within the collection are hundreds of fascinating individual fashion stories and visitors will be invited into the Museum’s nineteenth century store to uncover some of these hidden narratives.

From shoes and bonnets to lace and wedding dresses, the treasured pieces specially selected for display amongst the rails and storage boxes will hint at the astonishing size and depth of the Fashion Museum collection. Exploring them in detail will offer an opportunity to discover more about the people who wore them, the people who collected them and what they tell us about the history of fashionable dress.

The Collection Stories gallery will also showcase a special space for regularly changing displays called Fashion Focus. The first display, opening in May 2019, will be Little and Large, a glimpse of the Fashion Museum’s enchanting collection of antique dolls displayed alongside beautiful life size fashions from the same historical period.

A History of Fashion in 100 Objects, ongoing display

A History of Fashion in 100 Objects is a major display celebrating fashion from the 1600s to the present day. Showcasing 100 star objects drawn from the Fashion Museum’s world-class collection, these displays give visitors an instant insight into the era-defining outfits and headline pieces that have shaped our wardrobes over the past 400 years.

Fashion touches everyone’s life – it is intrinsically linked to society – and A History of Fashion in 100 Objects references moments in history, as well as more personal stories. Graceful silk robes and embroidered and tailored coats for men, the styles fashionable during Bath’s Georgian heyday are

18 on show, along with Regency fashion from the time of Jane Austen and dresses by the big names of fashion history, including the House of Worth and Christian Dior.

The display also includes ten shoe ‘moments’ throughout history, from Georgian silk shoes to Nike Air trainers as well as a children’s trail featuring ten ‘historical fashion’ looks for kids, from the 1700s to the 2000s.

Shoephoria!, opens 28th March until March 2021

2020 is the Year of the Shoe at the Fashion Museum! Our stunning new display feature showcasing some of the highlights and curiosities of the Museum’s world-class collection of more than 3,000 pairs of shoes will go on show from Saturday 28 March 2020.

Demonstrating the creativity of shoemakers throughout history, more than 100 pairs of shoes and boots will be displayed, over half of which have never been on show before.

From the oldest shoes in the collection to shoes belonging to Her Majesty Queen Mary, from trainers and sneakers to designer shoes by Vivienne Westwood, Versace and Jimmy Choo, the Museum’s shoes on display will document the evolution of shoe style over the last 300 years.

Shoes will be interspersed with the fashions on display as part of the A History of Fashion in 100 Objects exhibition, celebrating fashion from the 1600s to the present day.

Star objects in the display include:

 The oldest shoe in the Museum’s collection: a red velvet mule with gold and silver embroidery covered with raised work metal thread embroidery in real gold thread ca 1690s.

 Wooden pattens with iron ring ca 1720s – these were worn outside to save your shoes from the roads. In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, the clatter of iron pattens on the streets of Bath gave Anne Elliot a headache.

 Queen Victoria’s boots ca 1850s made by Joseph Box, London.

 A pair of long green Russian boots ca 1900s worn by Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873 -1938), a six foot tall, flame-haired English aristocrat on the fringes of the Bloomsbury Group. Often remarked for her flamboyant and extraordinary sense of dress, Ottoline was well known in her day for her intense friendships with artist Augustus John and philosopher Bertrand Russell amongst others. All her clothes are in the care of the Fashion Museum collection.

 Queen Mary’s diamante bow shoes ca 1930s – among the earliest shoes in the collection by celebrated British shoemaker Rayne. Rayne was holder of a Royal Warrant to Queen Mary, Queen Mother and the Queen. They supplied the shoes worn by the Queen, Princess Margaret and Princess Anne on their wedding days as well as those worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich and Brigitte Bardot.

 Futuristic golden wedge and plastic heel-less shoes from the 1950s made by Rayne.

 Pieces from the wardrobe collection of historian and writer Roy Strong, from the 60s to the present day.

 Several pairs of trainers and sneakers, from Converse to Nike Air Jordan.

 A pair of Charles Jourdan shoes from the 1980s with high metal spike heels, donated by a lady called Ann, who called them The Kissing Shoes. Ann had a tryst with a Polish sea captain who was very tall, so she bought very high shoes so she could kiss him!

 A pair of Dr. Martens boots (about 2015) digitally printed with an image taken from famous series of Georgian paintings ‘The Rake’s Progress‘ by Hogarth.

 Yellow silk-gold fringe shoe ca 1990s by Manolo Blahnik.

Share your favourite shoes with us! As part of our Shoephoria! display we will have a special Wearers' Wall feature. The shoes and boots on display will show footwear chosen by ten different people at different times in history, from Queen Victoria over 150 years ago to Jane, Richard and Sir Roy in the more recent past.

What is your favourite pair of shoes, either from right now, or perhaps a much-loved pair from the past? We'd love to know! Take a snapshot or share a story and add it to our Wearers' Wall on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #MyShoephoria. Some of our favourite pictures will be displayed alongside the Wearers' Wall at the Fashion Museum!

Totnes Fashion & Textile Museum, Bogan House, 43 High Street, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5NP Tel. 01392 265967 www.totftm.org

The Survival of Glamour 1935 - 1955’, open 19 May - 25 September 2020

The Totnes Fashion and Textiles Museum houses the Devonshire Collection of Period Costume. The Collection was founded in 1967, and since 1974 the Museum has mounted a new themed exhibition every year. Entry is free but donations are welcome.

Killerton House, Broadclyst, Exeter, Devon, EX5 3LE Tel. 01392 881345 www.nationaltrust.org.uk/killerton

Active minds and busy bodies, until 1st November 2020

This year the fashion exhibition explores how fashion has changed and adapted over time as the activities enjoyed on the country estate spread out into wider society.

We still take part in many of the activities that people first enjoyed on country house estates. For some, clothing remains quite traditional while other sportswear and equipment now combines cutting edge technology and high fashion. For more details please see website, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/killerton/features/fashion-exhibition-active-minds-and-busy- bodies

North of England

Bankfield Museum, Akroyd Park, Boothtown Rd, Halifax HX3 6HG Tel. 01422 352334 www.museums.calderdale.gov.uk/visit

As Seen on TV, until 5th September 2020

An exhibition celebrating the costumes of some of Britain’s best loved TV dramas including Downton Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Poldark, Victoria and many more.

Alongside a new display of historic costumes from similar periods in the Fashion Gallery.

From Stiches to Screen, Sunday 28th June 2020 10.00am – 4.00pm Fashion Seminar day in association with The Bronte Parsonage

This one-day seminar hosted by Calderdale Museums and the Brontë Parsonage Museum seeks to examine how historic costumes in museum collections are used as inspiration for film and TV dramas. It will consider such topics as what costume on screen can tell us about characters and the role of costume designers, historians and historical consultants can have on shaping the public’s view of costume and history.

There will be a range of speakers from academic, fashion, television and design backgrounds. Including award winning costume designer Susannah Buxton and fashion historian Eleanor Houghton. There will be opportunity to have a closer examination of historic costume in the collection at Bankfield Museum and tours of the new ‘As Seen on TV’ exhibition featuring costumes from some of Britain’s best loved TV dramas including Pride and Prejudice, Poldark, Downton Abbey and Victoria.

Tickets £50 per person including lunch and refreshments. More information here https://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/whats-on/events/stitches-screen-seminar-day

A Regency Summer Ball, Saturday 1st August 2020, 7.00-11.00pm

Join us for an evening of dancing with live music from the famous Pemberley Players. No dancing experience required - all dances will be called and there will be a dance practice 1.30pm – 3.30pm included in the ticket price. Regency dress preferred.

£45.00 includes cold buffet dinner. This event is suitable for age 16+. More information here https://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/whats-on/events/regency-summer-ball-0

History Wardrobe presents..., Friday 4th September 2020

FILM STARS & FASHION PLATES We all love the stylish designs of Hollywood historical films and TV costume dramas, but how much do they reflect the real clothes of an era, and what would it be like to wear them? Join dress historian Lucy Adlington and costume specialist Meridith Towne for a delightful exploration of corsets, crinolines, bonnets and bum rolls... with a chance to handle original garments from the Regency era to the 1920s

Exhibition and museum will be open from 6.00pm; the presentation will begin at 7.30pm. £12.50 including welcome glass of bubbly Be inspired by the outfits on display and come dressed in your favourite costume, anything goes! Not compulsory. This event is suitable for age 12+ accompanied by an adult. More information here https://museums.calderdale.gov.uk/whats-on/events/history-wardrobe- presents-film-stars-fashion-plates

Northern Ireland

Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens, Belfast, BT9 5AB Tel. +44 (0) 28 9044 0000 www.nmni.com

Vice Versa, until 31st August 2020

New exhibition explores influence of menswear on women’s fashion and Vice Versa. Men’s and womenswear from as early as the 17th century to modern designer couture have gone on display in the Ulster Museum’s newest fashion exhibition, ‘Vice Versa.’

The exhibition explores the many ways male style has been adopted by women throughout centuries of fashion history, and how this influence has at times flowed in both directions.

One designer whose work features prominently in Vice Versa is Yves Saint Laurent. The French couturier was renowned for breaking down barriers between men’s and women’s fashion throughout his career, most notably with his famous tuxedo suit for women, the chic ‘Le Smoking.’

First introduced in 1968, the ‘Le Smoking’ ensemble was inspired by the men’s smoking suit, and by gender-bending film icon, Marlene Dietrich. Though shocking at the time, the look proved so popular that Saint Laurent produced new versions of the female tuxedo throughout his long career.

The designer once stated that ‘for a woman Le Smoking is an indispensable garment with which she finds herself continually in fashion, because it is about style, not fashion. Fashions come and go, but style is forever.”

The Vice Versa exhibition displays a version of Le Smoking by the couturier dating from 1988. In the form of a long, robe-like evening dress, it is one of the most elegant iterations of ‘Le Smoking’ ever made by Saint Laurent, and it was designed for possibly his most important client – his mother, Lucienne Andree Mathieu-Saint-Laurent – making this garment a true piece of fashion history.

Androgynous outfits displayed in Vice Versa by trailblazing designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Rifat Ozbek, are re-imagined as original larger than life-size fashion

23 illustrations throughout the exhibition. Other key pieces featured in the exhibition include an exquisite eighteenth-century French silk embroidered court suit, once belonging to the 2nd Earl of Belvedere, a Qinq dynasty Chinese imperial robe, as well as outfits and accessories by Coco Chanel, Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy. For more details please see website, https://www.nmni.com/whats-on/vice-versa.

Ulster American Folk Park, Castletown, Omagh, BT78 5QU Tel. +44 (0) 28 8224 3292 www.nmni.com

A Step in Time: the story of Irish Dance, until June 2020

Irish Dance has evolved over the last 300 years into a distinctive style enjoyed by performers of all ages and backgrounds, worldwide.

From the itinerant dance masters of the 1800s to today’s ‘masters of dance’ there is a rich and colourful story to be told. This exhibition tells the story of Irish Dance at home and abroad over the last 125 years, drawing on collections from across National Museums Northern Ireland. The exhibition A Step in Time includes almost 100 objects, ranging in date from a medieval brooch to a contemporary diamante embroidered costume for solo dance. Embroidered costumes, medals, and certificates will tell the story of the development of dance schools and the governing bodies for Irish Dance.

The exhibition will include references to the 1904 Feis in the Glens of Antrim, a landmark event in Ulster’s cultural heritage, and to the work of The Gaelic League in promoting Irish language, dance, and traditional crafts in the USA in the early 1900s. Personal stories of emigrants and those who travelled abroad as performers will be woven into the exhibition and explored further in the related exhibition events programming.

Costumes in the exhibition will include a selection from the museum’s collection relating to the Patricia Mulholland Irish Ballet. Patricia Mulholland was one of Ireland’s foremost choreographers, performer and teacher of Irish Dance over a fifty year period from the 1940s to 1990. The River

24 dance phenomenon and its impact on Irish Dance today will be represented by both costume, and film footage.

Books

Publication

Fashion in Focus, 1600 – 2009, Treasures from the Olive Matthews Collection by Grace Evans.

A beautifully illustrated 152 page book featuring in-depth information about the very best pieces from the Olive Matthews Collection of dress at Chertsey Museum. Price - £11.99. Available from our website: www.chertseymuseum.org.