FASHIONING OUR WORLD AT SALISBURY MUSEUM
Image courtesy of Fashioning Our World, The Salisbury Museum
This blog post is courtesy of Katy England, Project Manager of the Fashioning Our World project at The Salisbury Museum.
Looking at a collection of historical clothes alongside young people can produce unexpected results. As part of a recent co-curation project to redisplay the Fashion Gallery at The Salisbury Museum we worked with a group from a local secondary school.
We imagined that they would choose the most beautiful garments, but although they couldn’t resist some eye-catching examples such as a glamorous Dior skirt and bodice, they also made more surprising choices. They were intrigued by a military greatcoat made from a blanket, heavily worn with visible repairs including a large rip on the back, and a child’s red jacket made from her father’s military tunic and the recycled fabric from a muff. They were curious about the repairs and changes and why and how these were made.
Image courtesy of Fashioning Our World, The Salisbury Museum
After the gallery opened, some of the young people were keen to explore the idea of sustainability in the past further and this led to a new project.
Fashioning Our World: exploring historic fashion to inspire a sustainable future, is working with young people to explore sustainability through historical fashion collections. A recent grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, delivered by the Museums Association, for £87,828, means the project is now underway.
For Fashioning Our World, The Salisbury Museum is working with young people to discover the hidden stories of sustainability in the collection, both positive and negative. Initial findings include a satin waistcoat from the 1700s that was repurposed into a women’s bodice front in the 1800s.
Image courtesy of Fashioning Our World, The Salisbury Museum
The young people taking part will also work with experts to learn the practical skills needed to repair or repurpose items from their own wardrobe including mending and patching. They will then share their new skills and knowledge with the community with the aim of inspiring others to make positive changes to fashion sustainability. How they do this will be up to them, but they will be supported by experts and the museum team.
The idea of Fashioning Our World will be shared with other heritage organisations with fashion collections. In the second year of the project, Dorset Museum, who also have an important collection of textile items, will take part.
The project will be celebrated with an exhibition at The Salisbury Museum in 2024 which will display original historical fashion items alongside the work of the young people.
Find out more about Fashioning Our World on their website: fashioningourworld.org.uk
1 comment
In a picture book called The Story Tree that my mother gave my daughter when she was wee, there was an East European story: a mother makes her boy a blue jacket and when it wore out, she cut it up and refashioned into a waistcoat, then a hat, then a tie and finally a button. It was our favourite story in the book.