Conservation of the Manchester smoking jacket

Treatment is now complete on a decadent aubergine silk man’s smoking jacket from Manchester Art Gallery for their exhibition Dandy Style opening on 4th February 2021.  The conservation was undertaken by Jamie Robinson and was generously funded by the Costume Society’s own Elizabeth Hammond Conservation Grant to ensure the jacket’s longevity on and after display. …

Charleston: Orlando at the Present Time

Charleston’s inaugural exhibition held in the Wolfson Galleries opened in September 2018 with ‘Orlando at the Present Time’, marking the 90 years since the first publication of Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography.  The exhibition included contemporary interpretations alongside rarely seen letters, photographs and objects connected to the original publication of the novel.  Also on …

Brighton Museum: a magnetic display

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery has a truly exceptional world cultures collection. Following the success of the multi-platformed Fashioning Africa project, a national programme aimed at supporting community partners to research and explore museum collections, the museum has continued to work cross-continent to display objects from the collection within in their indigenous communities. The ZTC …

Stephen Jones Hats: A Pragmatic Approach to Mounting 160 Objects in 30 Days

By Ania Golebiowska and Jamie Robinson The Royal Pavilion is rather extraordinary; a celebration of styles from across the globe with no discernible links.  The Prince Regent’s ‘Pleasure Palace’ is purportedly the first case of interior design existing outside of architecture.  George IV employed the theatre designer John Nash to transform the grounds during 1815-1820, …

Dressed For Best: conserving couture, restoring its Worth

Charles Frederick Worth was the Lincolnshire designer who dominated the Paris fashion scene in the latter part of the nineteenth century, otherwise known as the ‘father of haute couture’. [1] It is a rare treat to have such sartorial history pass through your hands and so I was delighted to have the opportunity to work on …