Interpreting and Displaying Historic Dress

Date: Thursday, 24 October 2024 
Tutor: Janet Wood
Price: £25.00
Platform: Zoom
Time: This seminar will start at 3pm BST

There will be a 55 minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of discussion.

Please register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1003106938857?aff=oddtdtcreator

This virtual seminar examines the ways and means required to transform tired, flat garments (post 1720) into memorable displays of fashionable dress. The steps required from storage box to display case are discussed: assessing a garment and identifying its date and construction; discerning the type of pattern pieces a dressmaker at the time would have recognized; taking appropriate measurements; selecting or adapting display figures; the making of toiles to protect delicate garments and the making of underpinnings and arms to support skirts and sleeves.

These and other steps are illustrated with drawings and case studies based on the presenter’s long experience of working with and displaying historic collections in major museums and historic properties.

Janet Wood was previously a fashion designer (working freelance and also for Thea Porter and Monsoon) before working as a textile conservator with Historic Royal Palaces (1992–2012). Since then she has been a freelance consultant on the conservation and display of historic dress working on large exhibitions in major museums and historic properties, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bowes Museum, Chatsworth House and the Museum of London. She is the author of the recently published book Creating the Perfect Form (Bloomsbury, 2024)