﻿Hello, I’m Alison Castaneda, associate conservator at The Museum at FIT.
Here at the museum, we work to bring you a number of exhibitions each year
in our three separate gallery spaces.
A great deal of work goes into each and every exhibition,
with planning starting as early as five years before opening.
While the curatorial team
works to tell a compelling story to educate and inspire
diverse audiences through museum objects,
in the conservation lab we work on the objects themselves,
making sure they can be safely displayed and that they look the best they can.
Although once an object has been acquired by the museum
it is stored on archival materials
in carefully climate-controlled storage rooms,
the object did have a past life.
At this time, the object was worn, likely exposed to bright light,
possibly rained on, and potentially packed away in a too-small drawer.
Because MFIT is exhibition driven,
an object’s first opportunity for full conservation
is usually when it’s been selected to appear in an exhibition.
One such exhibition is Ravishing: The Rose in Fashion,
curated by Amy de la Haye,
who is the Rootstein Hopkins Chair of Dress History and Curatorship
and Joint Director of the Centre for Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion,
and Colleen Hill,
who is curator of costume and accessories at The Museum at FIT.
Ravishing explores the significance of the rose in fashion
and dressed appearance from circa 1750 to the present.
In addition to numerous garments, over 75 hats appear in the exhibition.
This large display of headwear takes the guise of a rose garden,
with each hat positioned artfully on the end of a faux-branch.
Like all fashion objects, hats have their unique challenges.
One challenge is their particular susceptibility to the elements
by virtue of where they are worn.
What is better acquainted with bright sun and heavy rain than a hat?
Another challenge is that many hats are avant-garde.
Even a wearer who goes for more conventional clothes
might choose a daring hat,
which means they can be made from unusual materials,
or an unusual combination of materials.
While these two challenges (exposure to the elements and unexpected materials)
largely affect the structural and visual condition of the hat,
a third and separate challenge is how best to safely display them.
Many hats rely on the wearer’s hair to stay in place,
which mannequins and head forms do not have.
Others rely on the wearer’s face to maintain their shape.
Since the hats in Ravishing: The Rose in Fashion
are arranged in a rose bush tableau,
pre-made head mounts were out of the question.
The only solution was unobtrusive, custom mounts for all 76 hats.
To give you an example of what went into displaying each hat,
let’s take this calot-style one.
It dates to 1950 and is from Henri Bendel,
the famous women’s accessory store with a former flagship location on 5th Avenue.
It was donated to the museum by the American fashion photographer
Louise Dahl-Wolfe.
The crown is made from black straw and net
and it has a unique scalloped edge,
which makes it challenging to create a supportive yet invisible mount.
The first step in making the mount
is to closely examine the hat to get a sense of the interior shape
and to make note of any areas that might need special accommodations.
Luckily, aside from the scalloped edge, this hat was pretty straightforward.
The brim diameter and overall depth was measured.
Because the form will be lightly padded,
the recorded measurements are slightly smaller than
the actual interior measurements.
The desired diameter was transferred with a compass to a block of ethafoam,
which is a rigid, inert polyethylene foam.
The line is then darkened with a sharpie for ease.
At this point, the carving begins.
Using a sharp blade, the ethafoam is slowly whittled away
until the appropriate shape begins to appear.
The mount is then test fitted into the hat,
using a soft piece of tissue to separate the
hat interior from the sometimes rough ethafoam.
Using a pencil, the unique brim contours are marked onto the ethafoam,
and then it’s back to the carving table.
The ethafoam shape is carefully refined and the edges shaped
and recessed into the necessary scallops.
At this point, a shallow channel is cut into the ethafoam,
around where the brim will fall.
This will be used later to hold the display fabric in place.
Next, a thin piece of needle punch polyester felt is added for padding.
Using a combination of pins and gentle pressure,
the felt is shaped to the hat mount and the excess trimmed away.
The mount is then covered with a black knit display fabric,
however, rather than trimming away all of the excess fabric,
some is left in place and a tool called
a microspatula is used to push the fabric into
the channel that was previously cut into the ethafoam.
The bottom of the mount is covered in the same fabric
using the same method,
but no felt is used.
The completed mount is gently inserted into the hat
and is ready to be secured to the rose bush display.
This process is then repeated 75 more times for the rest of the hats.
Aside from the mount, this hat, like most in the exhibition,
only required a little “freshening up”.
Artificial flowers wilt over time
and can look limp and bedraggled.
In order to bring them back to life,
a tool called a preservation pencil is utilized.
Used in conjunction with an ultrasonic humidifier,
the preservation pencil heats up the cool steam to the desired,
pre-set temperature.
Various sized nozzles can be used to get the desired stream of air.
While different conservation labs use the preservation pencil
for a variety of different purposes,
we are using it here to humidify and reshape the wilted flower petals.
Working from the outside of the flower in,
each petal is humidified and held in the desired position using
a combination of nylon net and insect pins.
When the entire flower is done,
the net and pins are left in place
until the petals return to ambient humidity.
When they are removed, the flowers maintain their perky shape.
While most hats did not require more than
this to be ready for display,
there were a few that required a more intensive intervention.
One of these was this hat, made by Christian Dior in the 1940s. It was worn and donated
to the museum by Doris Duke, the 20th century tobacco heiress and philanthropist.
The silk net that formed the half-veil was in extremely poor condition.
There were large tears throughout and the remaining net crumbled easily.
Most importantly, it no longer portrayed the fashionable look Christian Dior had intended.
Because the importance of this object was in its fashionable silhouette
and not in its historicity,
the decision was made to replace the torn net.
An intensive hunt for net of an identical gauge and shape was undertaken
and it was soon discovered that modern millinery net
is not as fine as that made in the mid-20th century.
Luckily, a store in Manhattan’s Garment District had yardage of never-used vintage net in stock.
Unluckily, the only colors left were not the required black.
As a better match could not be found,
the decision was made to tone the net using acrylic textile paints.
After documenting the existing torn net,
it was carefully removed from the hat
and gently spread out to allow measurements to be taken.
The purchased net was cut to an approximate size
and brushed with diluted black textile paint.
Once dry, the paint was heat-set and the net cut to the
exact size of the original.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look
at what the conservation department
does to prepare for an exhibition!
And all of us here at The Museum of FIT
hope you’ll come see Ravishing: The Rose in Fashion.