Transcending Boundaries: Integrated Approaches to Conservation. ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints, Beijing, 17–21 May 2021, 2021
A startling number of fashionable garments from the 1960s to the present day in the collection of... more A startling number of fashionable garments from the 1960s to the present day in the collection of the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, have deteriorated rapidly and irreversibly once accessioned into the collection, even though they are stored in stable and standard museum environments. All of these garments have something in common-they contain textile coatings and laminates made from thermoplastic polyurethane. This paper uses an integrated approach combining research into thermoplastic polyurethane's history, manufacturing methods, chemistry, and conservation challenges to begin constructing a complete picture of the irrecoverable risk facing collections containing fashion objects dating from the 1960s to the present day. A key component of the authors' work is the creation of a reference library through the analysis of extant fashion artifacts and commercial manufacturing swatch sources, primarily from the periodical American Fabrics (1946-1975), later called American Fabrics and Fashions (1975-1986), which was used as a starting point of comparison in the analytical survey of the garments from the CI collection.
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Papers by Sarah Scaturro
Her: A Century of Mourning Attire” organized by the Costume
Institute (CI) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the author, who was
then the CI’s head conservator, encountered a question. Was the material
being displayed toxic? This question arose upon discovering that
nineteenth-century periodicals cautioned against wearing mourning
crape, which is a crispy, crinkled, and dull black silk fabric worn in the
first stages of Victorian mourning. According to these sources, mourning
crape was poisonous. Seeking answers, the author would soon
find out that, indeed, there was something to those warnings after
all. In fact, an investigation into Victorian mourning crape reveals the
incongruous story of a wretched and dangerous fabric that rose to the
height of luxurious fashion. This article recounts this tale by exploring
the history and materiality of English mourning crape to provide
insight into both the macabre meaning of the fabric and the dreadful
experience of wearing it.
held in collections. While early curators photographed garments on live models
to accurately present them, by the 1980s, museum professionals recognized that
allowing historic costume to be worn contemporarily could cause changes to the
condition of the garments that could be at odds with museum conservation ethics.
In 1986, professional dress studies organizations issued resolutions stating that
historic costume should not be worn in order to prioritize its materiality. However, by
2022, this had become an entrenched position increasingly contrary to movements in
the conservation of cultural heritage towards peoples- and values-based approaches
balancing concepts of conservation and access across multiple cultures that may
advocate for the wearing of costume in some contexts. This paper explores the
historical and ethical issues surrounding the wearing of historic costume and focuses
on how fashion and textile professionals can work towards a position that advocates
for both the material and conceptual integrity of dress.
the physical manifestation of sustainable fashion garments, including textiles, and the digital domain. The effects of technology in sustainable fashion are best understood through looking at the work of a technology theoretician, Andrew Feenberg, who advocates for small, but effective, "democratic rationalizations" of technology to achieve positive change.
This article presents an insight into the work of the conservator and reflects on the different issues connected to digital and non-digital documentation practices within a fashion museum. It explores the ways in which a fashion conservator generates technical documentation to capture information regarding the methods of an object’s creation and what might have been done to it before it entered the museum. What is this archive of conservation documentation and how is it made? Who uses it and what do they do with it? How do conservators document fashion and are they successful in capturing its temporal values? This article provides answers to these questions, exploring an overlooked practice and readdressing the agency of the fashion conservator in the definition of fashion in the museum.
This paper focuses on the analysis and preservation of three of van Herpen’s works collected by the Costume Institute (CI), Metropolitan Museum of Art and displayed in the Spring 2016 “Manus x Machina” exhibition. Two dresses, from the Spring 2010 “Crystallization” and Fall 2011 “Capriole” collections, are made through the selective laser sintering process using Polyamide-12 (PA-12/nylon), and now feature alarming condition problems. The third dress, from the Fall 2012 “Hybrid Holism” collection, demonstrates significant brittleness since it is made through the stereolithography process using UV- cured acrylonitrile polymer resin applied onto a temporary wax support structure with a material jetting system.
These types of materials are considered non-functional, meaning they are not intended for an end-use scenario, a factor that complicates the long-term preservation of 3D-prin- ted fashions. Designer’s intent, reproduction, and manufacturing processes will also be addressed as considerations for preserving these types of fashion objects.
Books by Sarah Scaturro
Her: A Century of Mourning Attire” organized by the Costume
Institute (CI) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the author, who was
then the CI’s head conservator, encountered a question. Was the material
being displayed toxic? This question arose upon discovering that
nineteenth-century periodicals cautioned against wearing mourning
crape, which is a crispy, crinkled, and dull black silk fabric worn in the
first stages of Victorian mourning. According to these sources, mourning
crape was poisonous. Seeking answers, the author would soon
find out that, indeed, there was something to those warnings after
all. In fact, an investigation into Victorian mourning crape reveals the
incongruous story of a wretched and dangerous fabric that rose to the
height of luxurious fashion. This article recounts this tale by exploring
the history and materiality of English mourning crape to provide
insight into both the macabre meaning of the fabric and the dreadful
experience of wearing it.
held in collections. While early curators photographed garments on live models
to accurately present them, by the 1980s, museum professionals recognized that
allowing historic costume to be worn contemporarily could cause changes to the
condition of the garments that could be at odds with museum conservation ethics.
In 1986, professional dress studies organizations issued resolutions stating that
historic costume should not be worn in order to prioritize its materiality. However, by
2022, this had become an entrenched position increasingly contrary to movements in
the conservation of cultural heritage towards peoples- and values-based approaches
balancing concepts of conservation and access across multiple cultures that may
advocate for the wearing of costume in some contexts. This paper explores the
historical and ethical issues surrounding the wearing of historic costume and focuses
on how fashion and textile professionals can work towards a position that advocates
for both the material and conceptual integrity of dress.
the physical manifestation of sustainable fashion garments, including textiles, and the digital domain. The effects of technology in sustainable fashion are best understood through looking at the work of a technology theoretician, Andrew Feenberg, who advocates for small, but effective, "democratic rationalizations" of technology to achieve positive change.
This article presents an insight into the work of the conservator and reflects on the different issues connected to digital and non-digital documentation practices within a fashion museum. It explores the ways in which a fashion conservator generates technical documentation to capture information regarding the methods of an object’s creation and what might have been done to it before it entered the museum. What is this archive of conservation documentation and how is it made? Who uses it and what do they do with it? How do conservators document fashion and are they successful in capturing its temporal values? This article provides answers to these questions, exploring an overlooked practice and readdressing the agency of the fashion conservator in the definition of fashion in the museum.
This paper focuses on the analysis and preservation of three of van Herpen’s works collected by the Costume Institute (CI), Metropolitan Museum of Art and displayed in the Spring 2016 “Manus x Machina” exhibition. Two dresses, from the Spring 2010 “Crystallization” and Fall 2011 “Capriole” collections, are made through the selective laser sintering process using Polyamide-12 (PA-12/nylon), and now feature alarming condition problems. The third dress, from the Fall 2012 “Hybrid Holism” collection, demonstrates significant brittleness since it is made through the stereolithography process using UV- cured acrylonitrile polymer resin applied onto a temporary wax support structure with a material jetting system.
These types of materials are considered non-functional, meaning they are not intended for an end-use scenario, a factor that complicates the long-term preservation of 3D-prin- ted fashions. Designer’s intent, reproduction, and manufacturing processes will also be addressed as considerations for preserving these types of fashion objects.
EUROPEANA FASHION SYMPOSIUM 2017
Venice, May 22-23, 2017
Conservation/Explication: The Costume Institute’s use of digital technologies for the preservation and interpretation of its Charles James collection by Sarah Scaturro
The Costume Institute’s 2014 exhibition Charles James: Beyond Fashion achieved an unprecedented depth in the understanding and explication of Charles James’ mastery of fashion through its critical use of technology, which included moving cameras, robots, animations, and projections. Curated by Harold Koda and Jan Reeder, the success of the exhibition hinged on the synergistic relationship between technology and fashion object, mediated through knowledge gleaned by the conservation team, who dissected and analyzed all of the garments on display. The conservators’ active role in the exhibition’s interpretive content was itself unprecedented for the Institute, as they were tasked with not only analyzing how James made his garments, but with translating information gleaned through 3D scanning, x-radiography, 360 photography, and material analyses to the designers, engineers, and computer programmers responsible for the development of the technological exhibition components.
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The conservators were inspired by the exhibition’s successful integration of digital technologies, and thus began explorations into the potential of technology to aid the preservation of Costume Institute’s collection. One significant outcome is the completion of an innovative project utilizing 3D scanning to create custom manufactured storage torso forms for Charles James gowns that cannot be hung or stored flat. The success of this project has encouraged the conservation team to deploy scanning and other digital technologies to preserve other aspects of the Institute’s collection, such as synthetic materials. This paper will explore the conservator’s role in the creation of explicative digital materials that were a critical part of the Charles James: Beyond Fashion exhibition, and will show how the exhibition’s use of technology has inspired further digital explorations aimed at preserving the Costume Institute’s collection.
"In this course students will be introduced to the analysis of textiles and fashion through material culture methodology. Utilizing objects in the school’s study collection and the Professor’s private collection, students will be guided through the various steps in the process of identification, documentation and interpretation of artifacts. By engaging hands-on in the analysis of garments, students will become familiarized with the vocabulary of dress and textiles, learn to identify materials, processes and technologies, and conduct research leading to a historical contextualization of garments. The course further provides students basic insights into museum practice and ethics, introducing them to guidelines
for object handling, cataloging, documentation, and condition reporting."