Cabinets of Costume: Renegotiating Participation Through Practice, Object-Based Study and ‘Ghosts’ of an Assemblage of Dress
Abstract
The exhibition Cabinets of Costume was undertaken as part of an international conference, Culture, Costume, and Dress at Birmingham City University (BCU) in May 2017. Its aim was to highlight two study collections held at BCU — the first, the Historical Dress Archive, which includes the Kate Elizabeth Bunce objects, and the second, the Art and Design Archives.
Referencing the previous practice of object-based study to inform current practice at the Municipal School of Art, Birmingham, this paper will explore the cultural and creative capital of this assemblage of everyday historic dress uncovered in 2012 at BCU. Focusing on the Historical Dress Archive the initiative was developed to enable undergraduates across the faculty of Art, Design and Media at BCU to study extant historical dress, creating five representations or ‘ghosts’ of the objects of study. The initiative and exhibition offered an opportunity for a student-academic partnership to share the practices of object-based study as a creative catalyst, to inform costume practices as a live project.
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ORCID
Louise E. P. Chapman https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1944-1132
Biographies
Louise Elizabeth Penn Chapman is currently studying towards a practice-based PhD at London College of Fashion with Amy de la Haye as her Director of Studies. Her PhD, entitled ‘Costuming as an Authorial Practice: Reading and Re-Authoring an Assemblage of Everyday, Aesthetic Womenswear from the Birmingham School of Art 1795–1885’, is concerned with the practice of re-authoring extant historical dress using costuming practices. In her professional practice as a costumer in theatre for more than seventeen years, she has worked as a supervisor, cutter and maker. This experience informs her research and practice. She now leads on the BA Hons Costume Design and Practice programme at Birmingham City University.
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Published In
Costume
Volume 54 • Number 2 • September, 2020
Pages: 222 - 241
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© The Costume Society.
History
Published in print: September, 2020
Published online: 14 September 2020
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