Second year Fashion and Dress History student Donna Gilbert on researching a hat in the University’s Dress History Teaching Collection

As part of our second year Constructing Histories module, we were asked to write a catalogue entry based on one of a range of items selected from the Special Collection at St Peter’s House Library and the University of Brighton Dress History Teaching Collection. As a Fashion and Dress History student, my eye alighted on a frivolous pink silk flower hat, illustrated in figs 1 and 2, which perfectly summed up the femininity and impracticality of one of my favourite eras for fashion, the 1950s.

Hats used to be such an important fashion accessory; in the Edwardian era no woman, whatever her class, would dream of going out without a hat or bonnet.  By the 1950s fashion had become increasingly informal but women were still expected to wear a hat for church and social occasions such as weddings, christenings and graduations. Veiled hats and floral cocktail hats were popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s and featured in the collections of several of the major French couturiers, including Balenciaga and Christian Dior.

‘Franck et Fils’ department store

This silk flower hat features the label ‘Franck Modes, Paris’ and is assumed to have come from ‘Franck et Fils,’ an exclusive Parisian department store.[1]Emma Franck opened ‘Les Galeries Parisiennes,’ her first mercerie, or haberdashers in 1897, selling fabrics, ribbons and original hats and incorporating a workshop which would quickly complete client’s orders.[2]After World War One the store became ‘Franck et Fils,’ dedicated entirely to women. The Franck Modes cocktail hat features silk petals designed to resemble sweet-peas (Lathyrus Odoratus).These are glued to a silk organza base, which features darts for shaping, and hand-stitching. The fact that the flowers are glued indicates that the hat was produced for the ready-to-wear market, rather than couture.

The silk flower industry

What particularly interested me about this hat was the manufacture of the silk petals. This was something that had intrigued me since I came across a 1950s ‘Coquette Original’ evening dress, illustrated in fig 3, which had leaves imprinted with veins (fig. 4) on the bodice and cascading down the front. I was curious to know how these had been achieved.

Silk flowers have been produced in Europe since the eighteenth century and are manufactured using traditional processes which are highly skilled and time-consuming.  The silk is attached to a frame and then dropped into a gum, starch or flour bath to ‘dress’ it.  The fabric is then layered in a cutting press and each flower-type has its own punch to cut the petal shapes. This was physically demanding work and mostly carried out by men. Once cut, the silk petals would be hand-coloured. After the initial colouring a second colour is applied to produce the shaded effect, bleeding off the edge of the petals.[3]When the petals are dry, they can be pressed in special moulds which imprint them with the veins and texture. Brass tools are then used to shape them. These are heated over a flame until they are hot enough to gently mould the petals into flower shapes. These traditional techniques continue to be used today by skilled manufacturers.

The silk flower industry was huge up until World War One, with women from all classes donning flower bonnets and hats. The 1891 census reported 4011 silk-flower makers in London alone, but the flowers were often produced in appalling conditions. The Children’s Employment Commission of 1865 found that most women assembling the flowers were under eighteen years of age, and some were as young as eight. Factories had them working between twelve and eighteen hours a day.[4]The disruption of war and changing fashions had a huge impact on the flower-making industry and many houses closed. The popularity of floral hats declined during the 1960s and since the 1970s, cheap artificial flowers from the Far East have infiltrated the market.

The silk flower hat highlights a period in history when women were bound by social mores and the wearing of hats, at least for social occasions, was expected. During the 1960s these expectations were relaxed and hat-wearing amongst both men and women became a matter of choice rather than convention.

[1]“Franck et Fils”, France Today.Web. 16 Feb 2002. www.francetoday.com/culture/shopping-boutiques/franck_et_fils

[2]Celine Vautard, “Franck et Fils: The end of an Institution in the district of Passy,” Fashion United, 3 June 2016. Web. fashionunited.fr/actualite/retail/franck-fils-la-fin-d-une-institution-du-quartier-de-passy/

[3]“The House of Legeron – History”. Web. http://www.boutique-legeron.com/en/37-history

[4]Beatrice Behlen and Natasha Fenner, “The lost art of flower-making,” Curators, The Art of Flower-Making Display, 3 March 2016. Web. www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/lost-art-flower-making.

Second year History of Art and Design student Sally Lawrence on investigating a special edition Superman comic

Despite never having read a comic book, I was instantly drawn to the 1999 Superman Masterpiece Edition (See figs. 1-4), when it was presented to me during the History of Art and Design Constructing Histories module this year. Our task was to select one of the many items from either the University’s teaching collection or St Peter’s House Library’s Special Collection to write a catalogue entry about.  This lead me on a fascinating journey through 1990s collecting culture; which ultimately inspired my dissertation topic about 1990s collecting, consumer culture and the merchandise of The Simpsons. So, I wanted to share some of my thoughts and ideas about this thought-provoking box set.

In 1938 DC Comics paid creators Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster just $130 (US) for the rights to Superman.[1]This was an extraordinary investment. Not only would Superman soon become an American icon, but also ‘one of the most lucrative merchandising properties of all time’.[2]Such merchandise became incredibly popular in the 1990s; as an interest in “Golden Age” or late 1930s, ’40s and early ’50s comic-books rose at a staggering rate. Comic-books that were originally sold for mere cents were now ‘worth hundreds and thousands of dollars’.[3]Taking advantage of this craze for comic-book nostalgia, companies began to produce products specifically for the collectables market. This 1999 Superman Masterpiece Edition (figures 1-4)is a beautiful example of the trend for ‘year one flashback projects’, which transported nostalgic fans back to the early years of the world’s first superhero.[4]

Each new incarnation of Superman, on film, television or radio, seems to require a new set of merchandise, reflective of the contemporary vision of heroism. By continually reinventing Superman, whilst also maintaining his most distinctive qualities, DC Comics are able to capitalize on both Superman’s contemporary and historic presence. Produced as a reaction to the 1990s craze for comic-book nostalgia, the Superman Masterpiece Edition was then a sixty-year-old story being repackaged for a new market. Each item reflects both the age that it celebrates and the age that it was produced in. DC Comics produced a nostalgic product, but they did it in a very modern way, by outsourcing production to China. They were celebrating history by utilising modernity.

By the end of the 1990s it became clear that mass-producing collectables was somewhat problematic. The reason original comic-books are so much more profitable is because so few of them still exist. In the early days, print runs were much smaller and children would use, abuse and ruin their comic-books.[5]In the collectables market value comes from rarity; the fewer there are, the more expensive they become. Nonetheless, this has not stopped DC Comics producing collectables and memorabilia. The mass-produced products are worth less to collectors but still have a sentimental value for the fans who purchase them the world over.

DC Comics have certainly made the most of their $130 investment. With his core values and his signature look remaining largely intact, Superman is instantly recognisable from any era. Over the last eight decades Superman has infiltrated popular culture by appearing in comic-books, radio, television and film.[6]Each new incarnation came with a fresh set of merchandise, some more collectable than others. Perfectly suited to the 1990s comic-book market the Superman Masterpiece Edition creates a sense of nostalgia for a long gone, yet ever-present Superman.

Bibliography

Duncan, Randy and Matthew J. Smith. The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture. London:The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. 2009. Print.

Kidder, David S. and Noah D. Oppenheim. The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati. London: Rodale. 2008. Print.

O’Rourke, Morgan. “Up, up and away”, Risk Management. 55:12. 12/2008. 62. Print.

Notes

[1]Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith. The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture. (London:The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. 2009.) 32.

[2]Duncan and Smith, 32.

[3]Duncan and Smith, 76.

[4]Duncan and Smith, 78.

[5]Morgan O’Rourke. “Up, up and away”Risk Management. 55:12. (12/2008.)62.

[6]David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim. The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati. (London: Rodale. 2008.) 84.

BA Hons History of Art and Design student Sally Lawrence on being on placement at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft

On 5th May 2018, a very rousing new exhibition opened at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. Corita Kent: Get with the action uses film, her personal correspondence and  screen prints, including some that have never before been shown in Britain, to explore the life and work of this fascinating lady. Corita Kent (1918-1986) was an American Roman Catholic Nun, teacher and artist who believed in the power of art to create a sense of togetherness and to elicit social change. She worked in America in the 1960s and was heavily influenced by Pop Art, particularly by the work of Andy Warhol. This year at Ditchling, Corita has influenced a very exciting new project.

I recently had the opportunity to undertake a placement at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft as part of my degree, for the second year ‘Behind the Scenes’ module. I arrived at a particularly busy time: they were not only preparing their brilliant new exhibition (Fig 1.), but they were also embarking on a very innovative project, inspired by Corita Kent, that involved creating a piece of art and design that inspires and explores notions of belonging. Designer Morag Myerscough, with the help of a plethora of school, community and university groups, put together a travelling bandstand (see Fig. 2), which will help bring communities together through art and music. Myerscough’s bandstand is topped with a crown of placards designed by groups including the University of Brighton, DV8 in Bexhill, Diverse Crawley and Ditchling Primary School. With each new location the bandstand will have a new crown (see Fig. 3) that represents the local community and will host different performers each location.

Where the bandstand will be this summer:

19^th-20^thMay- Brighton Festival, Your Place, Hangleton

26^th-27^thMay- Brighton Festival, Your Place, East Brighton

7^th-9^thJune- South of England Show

4^th-10^thJuly Crawley Festival

22^nd-27^thAugust- Newhaven Festival of Belonging

1^st-9^thSeptember- Coastal Current Arts Festival, Hastings

17^th– 23^rdSeptember- Ditchling.

You can also see more of Morag Myerscough’s work in a display at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, alongside Corita Kent: Get with The Action, until 14th October 2018.

Fashion and Dress History graduate (2012) Josephine Payter-Harris on working at The Mary Rose Museum

Since graduating I have developed a career doing what I love: working in the museums and heritage industry. I am currently part of the management team at The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth. Whilst studying for my degree, my end goal was to secure a job either working in costume for TV and film, or to go into the world of galleries and museums. I was (and still am!) completely passionate about period costume, and completed my dissertation on the use of historical costume in period film. Throughout my studies I worked to build up a good level of skills within these areas, so that when I came to graduate, I had a range of experience to add to my CV.

Work in museums, particularly curatorial and behind the scenes, is hard to break in to. As such I volunteered at several small, local museums and was able to get some fantastic hands-on experience. I undertook a voluntary placement with the Flora Twort Gallery, which houses a beautiful collection of period dress. I dated, researched and archived this collection, and was able to get some ‘white glove’ curatorial experience. I later completed an unpaid placement with Historic Royal Palaces as part of the team to help research costumes for the ‘Fashion Rules’ exhibition at Kensington Palace. Volunteer placements like this are such a good way to help your CV stand out to employers, and a great way to get your foot in the door.

In my final year, I applied for graduate internships at museums and galleries, and anything to do with costume in TV and film. I lucked out and was offered a four week unpaid placement at a production company based in London. My role was to assist the costume and set design runners for location filming, set dressing and costume for historical docu/dramas. I took on everything I was offered, with a flurry of enthusiasm, and was offered further paid work which I gladly accepted.

After a time, I decided to shift my focus to museum work. I secured a paid internship at a small art centre and museum: The Spring, an independent organisation based in Havant. This internship enabled me to develop skills in curation, exhibition planning, marketing, installation, and the organisation of large historically-themed open days, lectures and art/crafts workshops. I progressed from intern to Museum and Participation Assistant, and thrived in a creative and unique organisation. I took on a second job working for English Heritage (now Historic England), starting off as Historic Property Steward, and developing into Site Duty Manager. This was my first experience working within a large, commercial heritage organisation, and I took on all the training, development and opportunities that were available.

In 2014 I was offered a job at The Mary Rose Museum, where I am currently based. The Mary Rose is a world class visitor attraction which receives over 400,000 visitors a year. The museum is home to King Henry VIII’s warship, which sank during the Battle of the Solent, 1545. The ship and over 19,000 artefacts from every day Tudor life were recovered and raised in the 1970s and 80s. The ship sits at the heart of a state of the art museum, which was opened to the public in 2013. My current role, as Front of House Manager, means I manage the day to day running and flow of the museum and a team of 34 museum staff and look after over 100 volunteers; I oversee aspects of the museum such as ticketing, retail sales, recruitment, staff training, development and personnel – so I am certainly kept busy!

What I love about my work here is that no two days are the same; you have to be flexible, adaptable and ready to deal with all kinds of quirky challenges. My degree certainly laid the foundations for my career, and instilled in me a creative way of thinking, problem solving and a keen sense of attention to detail. Without it I don’t think I’d have the mix of diverse skills and experiences to date which have led me to my current position.

My advice to students aspiring to work in this field is always to put yourself forward, don’t turn down opportunities, even if it means taking unpaid placements. Grasp work and keep striving to learn and develop, don’t pigeon-hole your aspirations, have goals, but be prepared to take a winding road to achieve them, accept that nothing is straightforward and every job will be hard work. Volunteer at smaller organisations, work your way up, take every chance you can get to gain skills and experiences which will make you stand out.

I take pride in my work and feel genuinely lucky to be where I am, my hopes for the future are to keep on moving upwards and onwards within the museum and heritage sphere and to continue to work for organisations which inspire and instil passion.

MA History of Design and Material Culture student Sarah-Mary Geissler investigates a book from the collection of designer FHK Henrion

 

When looking at an object, it is vital to understand its context. Who owned it and where does it come from? Where is it now and why? Belongings often illuminate much about who used them. Sometimes the real story of an object is actually the story of the owner.

This was the case with Ein lustiges ABC der Moden, Trachten und Kostüme (or A merry ABC of fashion, folk dress and costume) by Fritz Kredel.[Image 1] This charming book teaches the alphabet through the history of dress; from 1700 BC to 1956 AD, from Eton boys to Vikings. Each page depicts the interaction of two characters dressed in historic garb, their frolics described through rhyming couplets. The sheets are discoloured at the edges, but clean; as though they were turned with care. The book belonged to German designer FHK Henrion, an internationally renowned graphic designer. The book now resides in the FHK Henrion Archive within the University of Brighton Design Archives, whose staff provided me with the information necessary to investigate further.

It is worth noting that Henrion’s collection of books were given to the Design Archives, and kept in the order that Henrion himself had at his home library. As archivist Sue Breakell informed me, his personal collection was comprised of many hundreds of books, a mix of German and English and covering many subjects.[1]So why would such an esteemed professional designer hang onto this book in particular? The ABC format seems juvenile, though the translated text comes across somewhat saucy, such as P’s “the damsel in the Peplos seems scolding, The gentleman in Pyjamas to charm”[Image 2]. We can’t be certain whether the book was his own purchase or a gift. However, as historians we can link what we see in the object to what we’ve read to come up with our speculations.

His parents, concerned with the rise of National Socialism in Germany, sent him in 1933 to live with relatives in Paris. It was here that he took up a design apprenticeship for a textile manufacturer, and attended many life drawing classes while in the city.[2]This was the beginning of an illustrious design career, going on to design logos for Dutch airline KLM amongst other corporate ventures such as Shell, Phillips, and the Post Office.[3]Though his interest in graphics for the fashion industry endured through his career. During the 1940s Henrion designed covers for fashion magazines Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, he also conceived the ad campaign for Harella ladies clothing.[4]

This is but my own speculation, that FHK Henrion was charmed by a colourful little book illustrated with forms and textiles in a quirky, contemporary way which recalled to him his many brushes with fashion, though this may be my over-sentimentalised deduction.[Image 3] In fact, there could be any number of reasons why he held onto the book. The typography, rather than the illustrations, could have been inspiring, or perhaps he enjoyed the witty wordplay. Or it could have just been a gag gift that he left on the shelf and never read; it seems we know the ending, just not the beginning of the story of the book.

s.geissler1@uni.brighton.ac.uk

[1]Information provided by Sue Breakell, 13^thApr 2018.

[2]Mike Hope, FHK Henrion: Five Decades a Designer(Leicester: Flaxman, 1989).

[3]Ruth Artmonksy & Brian Webb, FHK Henrion: Design(Woodbridge: Antique Collectors Club, 2011).

[4]Hope, FHK Henrion.

Fashion and Dress History graduate 2017 Emma Kelly discusses becoming Costume Society ambassador

Over the last few weeks, I have been settling into my role as Costume Society ambassador, jumping back into the world of research after months away from books, journal articles, word counts, and deadlines. The Costume Society’s aim is to promote the study and preservation of dress, both historical and contemporary. Their work comprises of events such as lectures, study days and its annual conference. The Society also has its own academic journal, Costume, which it publishes twice a year, as well as its newsletter. One of the other key facets of their work is their financial support: awards and bursaries are awarded by the Society to students, researchers and trainee museum curators.

The ambassador role centres on the Society’s website and social media platforms. The ambassadors’ work focuses on writing a blog proposal and blog entry every month. Every proposal has to be given the all-clear by the editors before it can be written and submitted. We are also given set days on which we run the Society’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. We each have two days and the themes and topics are chosen by us and we also have the opportunity to run the #CSFashionhour on Twitter (at the Society’s handle: @costume_society), which takes place once a month.

Being an ambassador provides a platform to publish your work and brings you into contact with fascinating people; from the other ambassadors, to the followers of the Society. Fascinating conversations with fellow fashion historians have been a highlight of my ambassadorship thus far. It is an amazing community, which is never short of advice or inspiration. As part of the ambassadorship, I have received membership of the Society, which means I have full access to the website and its archive of past journals and newsletters: an amazing resource.  I also receive the Society’s twice-yearly publications, its journal and newsletter.

I am one of two University of Brighton Fashion and Dress History (FDH) graduates involved in the ambassador programme, alongside Jade Bailey Dowling (current MA History of Design and Material Culture) and we follow in the footsteps of graduates (current MA History of Design and Material Culture students) Sarah-Mary Geissler and Ruby Helms. Final year FDH student Emmy Sale is also a recipient of a Fellowship from Association of Dress Historians. I think this continued recognition of students and graduates by leading costume groups is a credit to the degree programme.

Being involved with the Costume Society in this way is an amazing opportunity and I’m really looking forward to the coming months, when I will be immersing myself again in research. Irish dress history is one of my key interests and will feature heavily in my work. But this role will also allow me the opportunity to look into other areas of interest, including film costume and will be invaluable to my progression as a fashion historian.

Emma.Kelly94@hotmail.com

Final year History of Art and Design student Lisa Hinkins reports on Brighton Museum’s recent conference Queer Legacies: Transforming practice in museums and galleries post-2017

I was awarded a bursary ticket to attend Queer Legacies, a one-day conference organised and facilitated by Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In the last eighteen months the Museum has carried out changes to address the lack of LGBT visibility within its building. It has also positively improved the Museum of Transology that transferred from the London College of Fashion into a space at Brighton Museum that gives gravitas to transgender lives. It has also held successful exhibitions of twentieth century queer artists Glyn Philpot and Gluck, introducing their work and lives to many who had not heard of them before. It was fitting that the Museum held this timely conference in a city rightly regarded as the LBGT capital of Europe.

The programme had a diverse range of speakers from various art institutions in the UK and Netherlands. The Chair for the day was Matt Smith, artist and curator, who holds a practice-based PhD in queer craft at University of Brighton. Smith pointed out that the National Portrait Gallery (NPG)’s Gay Icons exhibition in 2009 set a precedent for museums to consider curating LGBT-specific content. The 2009 NPG exhibition rode on the wave of a changing British society that followed 2005 legislation allowing same-sex civil unions. I had visited this ground-breaking exhibition, which was an incredibly moving experience that allowed celebrated LGBT people, among them tennis legend Billie-Jean King and singer Elton John, to select images of historical and contemporary LGBT heroes, displayed in an illustrious setting. Smith went on to say that since the NPG show, many art institutions had failed to collect and display LGBT objects, but that in the last few years there had been an exponential rise in queer exhibitions and displays. He said it is important to speak up, to understand the diversity of queer experiences. The failures of the past are gradually being addressed, though importantly he noted that the LGBT community still looks white, male and middle-class, and that this needs to change.

Next to the conference lectern were representatives from Amsterdam Museum. They expressed the importance of incorporating the ‘domestic narrative’ in exhibitions. By this they meant that the community in which a museum is set needed to be recognised, so that ‘out-reach’ becomes ‘in-reach’. For this to succeed, they recruited volunteers to assist with curating exhibitions. It was, they explained, important to the museum that it is custodian of a usable collection that grows and does not die. One important object, The Rainbow Dress, consists of seventy-two flags sewn together to represent the countries that still deny LGBT rights. The dress is touring round the world as a piece to inspire discourse on human rights and equality.

The National Trust recognised that it needs to reflect social progress to ensure better engagement with the public. The Trust’s speaker talked about the Prejudice and Pride guidebook written by scholars of gender and sexuality Alison Oram and Matt Cook, which highlighted Sissinghurst Castle and Garden. Its history was addressed through Speak its Name: a collaboration between National Portrait Gallery and the National Trust focusing around portraits held at Sissinghurst of its owners Vita Sackville-West, Harold Nicholson and their contemporaries such as Virginia Woolf , which gave greater voice to its famous owners’ queer lives. From the Pitt Rivers Museum, an impassioned Dr Clara Barker stated that museums are powerful tools, which can be harnessed by communities to readdress the disparities of those written out of history, by telling their stories through objects held. These points were further touched on by Clare Barlow, the curator of Tate Britain’s Queer British Art, 1861-1967, who said the past is queerer than you think. By examining and exploring art and objects, histories are told.

The last exhibition addressed at the conference was the Museum of Transology, currently on display at Brighton Museum. Curator E.J. Scott said that it was important that the collection was relatable to the viewer. This was achieved by making ordinary objects extraordinary through the carefully-considered, displayed items such as a slogan t-shirt, a lipstick and medication. Scott referred to Jean Baudrillard’s idea that it is ‘oneself that one collects’. The display of the everyday allowed poignant messages about the realities of emotional and physical pain and joy to be expressed, to convey greater understanding to the cis person of a transperson’s personal journey.

One of the most touching comments came towards the end of the day from Tate Britain’s Clare Barlow. A comment card left by a visitor had said, “I think it might be safe for me to come out now.” For Barlow this was a powerful reminder as to why LGBT content in art galleries and museums was paramount for furthering visibility and inclusiveness. These projects, she said, could also be self-exposing and emotionally tiring, so it was important that conferences like Queer Legacies kept momentum going. All presentations were connected by discussion of the need for universal accessibility to the spaces and representations; the need for co-creation through recruitment and participation of volunteers; the need to ensure a legacy through sustained, continued exhibition work; and the enhancement of collections by further acquisitions with LGBT histories.

What I took away from this illuminating conference was the importance of institutions moving away from museums simply as didactic spaces and the need to shift towards a meaningful, interactive dialogue with the public. History is all our histories and there needs to be a halt to it being written by the victors or only by those at the top of the academic hierarchy.