The last two weeks were spent working on the same thing, so I combined them together. As I have previously mentioned, I'm working on a project assisting in the installation of a new exhibition space for the Royal Fusiliers Museum at the Tower of London. There are three historical costume figures that will be included in the display and I get to mount them.
The first two are short, very small military jackets from the 1800's. One is a red jacket with medal ribbons sewn to it. It is generally in okay condition, but some of the ribbons are shredding so I get to stabilize them. The second is a tailcoat that is in good condition.
Mannequins are the best way to display clothing because it is easiest to understand on a body. It is not possible to take a mannequin and put clothing on it and expect it to fit perfectly. This is for a number of reasons. Clothing often stretches and sags with wear and when it is on display in a museum it's important to give it a supportive mount so those disortions don't get worse. The popular body silhouettes also change with time, so mannequins with modern body shapes don't match the corseted Victorian waists (for example). Also, people come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It is a myth that people in the past were smaller, it's just that the smallest sizes were often the ones that were saved. Let me explain...
Fancy clothing is expensive, so it was often re-purposed. If your dress made of embroidered Italian silk was no longer in fashion, you would get it remade into something else (that way you don't have to keep buying new dresses of expensive silk). Or if you didn't fit you dress anymore you slimmer sister might take your silk dress and get it tailored down to fit her. However, if you happen to be a very petite person, your dress may be too small to repurpose. But it was expensive, so you wouldn't discard it. You would keep it just incase it is useful- someday. And after you are long-dead, your ancestors find the expensive dress that you've tucked away in the attic and donate it to a museum. Make sense? Rant over, back to the jackets....
Because people come in all shapes and sizes, you try to find a mannequin that fits as close to that jacket as possible with some room to spare. Then a textile conservator (me) pads up the mannequin to match the exact size of the jacket... or as close as I possibly can. You then stitch the padding in place to the mannequin and cover the whole thing with a layer of fabric. I'll show you the process of this tomorrow.
The third mannequin is for King George V's uniform. I so far have done very little work with him, but have been watching one of the conservators step by step as she prepares him for exhibit. George (as we like to call him) was a custom-made mannequin made specifically for this uniform. While he still requires some padding up, he didn't need as much as the other two figures. For example, he had no bum to speak of when he came to us. His arms have provided us all kinds of problems but once we made him new hands (which were much lighter than the ones originally provided) he seems a lot happier.
This may not be the clearest blog entry on the planet but it will make more sense in the coming weeks. I have one more week of exhibit prep and then I get to spend almost two weeks to help install the exhibit. And there will be lots of photos as everything progresses. Stay tuned.
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