Radiating smugness...
Oct. 29th, 2007 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abendgulesI was awash in smugness this weekend, riding a wave of textile academic geekiness.
Along withfrrsawyer , jahanara , and edith_hedinghamI attended a conference where Else Ostergard, (Woven into the earth) Frances Pritchard (MoL Textiles and clothing), and Geoff Egan (MoL Dress Accessories) were speaking.
Kay Staniland (also MoL Textiles and clothing), Sarah Thursfield and Jenny Tiramani were also there. Jenny is the former head of design and costume at the Globe Theatre '96-'05. (She and the costume staff quit en masse when the artistic director of the Globe changed, and decided that recreating accurate costumes was no longer of interest.)
I'll be posting my notes shortly.
Along with
frrsawyer , jahanara , and edith_hedinghamI attended a conference where Else Ostergard, (Woven into the earth) Frances Pritchard (MoL Textiles and clothing), and Geoff Egan (MoL Dress Accessories) were speaking. Kay Staniland (also MoL Textiles and clothing), Sarah Thursfield and Jenny Tiramani were also there. Jenny is the former head of design and costume at the Globe Theatre '96-'05. (She and the costume staff quit en masse when the artistic director of the Globe changed, and decided that recreating accurate costumes was no longer of interest.)
I'll be posting my notes shortly.
Since two of the presentations were simply 'whistle-stop' reviews of collections and known pieces, and one presentation was just 15 minutes long(!), I think this particular conference was mostly an excuse for many of these textile experts and costume historians to get together and network. One feature of these conferences is their half-hour coffee breaks, and their 90 minute lunches. :-)
One issue that has many members really wound up is the threat that the Textile Conservation Centre at the University of Southampton is likely to close next year, for lack of means to make it commercially viable. The university has a policy that each school/dept must pay for itself, and even w/ extortionate tuition fees (£11,000/year for 2-year MA courses), they can't find a way to cover its expenses.
TCC has specific housing needs, and currently lives in a custom-built building to accommodate them. Moving the school to another institution is prohibitively expensive, so while several schools were interested in transferring the program to their base, the cost of housing is a big deterrent.
These members are angry, some of them steaming angry. This school is a huge resource to them, and almost all of them have either studied there or have made use of its resources. Closing is a huge loss that can't be replaced.
Some individuals are particularly steamed because several collections of books and artifacts owned by well-known dress and textile historians who have now died (specifically Janet Arnold, Stella Mary Newton, Richard Rutt and Montse Stanley) were bequeathed to this centre. If the centre closes, the MEDATS members don't want these collections to simply vanish into the Southampton archives.
I spoke briefly to the programme secretary, who was one of the most vocal in objecting, and insistent that MEDATS members must take a stand. I said that there are thousands of amateur costumers who also rely on the publications that were made possible by TCC's resources - where would SCA costume by w/out Janet Arnold, Stella Mary Newton, Gayle Owen Crocker, and the Museum of London authors?
If this school closes, it cuts off huge study sources for these authors who help make our game possible. So there could be a big support base of beneficiaries, who could write to state their support.
I think the goal at the end of this week will be to have, at a minimum, a petition on the MEDATS website. If this happens, I'll link to it and ask everyone I know who's ever read a costume book to send in a copy.
But as always, what will really make a difference is money; they need a patron. Textile research is a hell of a job to try to make self-supporting; I think that's why V&A keeps running 'popular' exhibits like Kylie's outfits and Vivienne Westwood reviews - so it can pay for less popular but more 'highbrow' shows like Gothic and Italian Ren interiors.
Personally I think they should tap some of the major English fashion houses, the fashion magazines (as Edith suggested), the retailers - the companies that can drop a few million pounds on a sponsorship - to chip in.
Yes, AIDS and breast cancer are more fashionable causes. But without the inspiration of the past, some of the current designers would be totally stuck for ideas. There's a measure of self-interest in supporting the researchers who can provide them with old ideas to recycle to a new audience.
One issue that has many members really wound up is the threat that the Textile Conservation Centre at the University of Southampton is likely to close next year, for lack of means to make it commercially viable. The university has a policy that each school/dept must pay for itself, and even w/ extortionate tuition fees (£11,000/year for 2-year MA courses), they can't find a way to cover its expenses.
TCC has specific housing needs, and currently lives in a custom-built building to accommodate them. Moving the school to another institution is prohibitively expensive, so while several schools were interested in transferring the program to their base, the cost of housing is a big deterrent.
These members are angry, some of them steaming angry. This school is a huge resource to them, and almost all of them have either studied there or have made use of its resources. Closing is a huge loss that can't be replaced.
Some individuals are particularly steamed because several collections of books and artifacts owned by well-known dress and textile historians who have now died (specifically Janet Arnold, Stella Mary Newton, Richard Rutt and Montse Stanley) were bequeathed to this centre. If the centre closes, the MEDATS members don't want these collections to simply vanish into the Southampton archives.
I spoke briefly to the programme secretary, who was one of the most vocal in objecting, and insistent that MEDATS members must take a stand. I said that there are thousands of amateur costumers who also rely on the publications that were made possible by TCC's resources - where would SCA costume by w/out Janet Arnold, Stella Mary Newton, Gayle Owen Crocker, and the Museum of London authors?
If this school closes, it cuts off huge study sources for these authors who help make our game possible. So there could be a big support base of beneficiaries, who could write to state their support.
I think the goal at the end of this week will be to have, at a minimum, a petition on the MEDATS website. If this happens, I'll link to it and ask everyone I know who's ever read a costume book to send in a copy.
But as always, what will really make a difference is money; they need a patron. Textile research is a hell of a job to try to make self-supporting; I think that's why V&A keeps running 'popular' exhibits like Kylie's outfits and Vivienne Westwood reviews - so it can pay for less popular but more 'highbrow' shows like Gothic and Italian Ren interiors.
Personally I think they should tap some of the major English fashion houses, the fashion magazines (as Edith suggested), the retailers - the companies that can drop a few million pounds on a sponsorship - to chip in.
Yes, AIDS and breast cancer are more fashionable causes. But without the inspiration of the past, some of the current designers would be totally stuck for ideas. There's a measure of self-interest in supporting the researchers who can provide them with old ideas to recycle to a new audience.
