Help w/University Vintage Stash?

Hello all-
I've just found this newsgroup and am hoping someone here can help me out. Let
me explain... (and yep... I've checked the FAQ and poured through many old
messages before posting this.. so hopefully I'm not being trollish...)

I work in the costume department at a college in Wisconsin. We have a large
storage of vintage clothing dating, near as we can tell from a brief glance,
back to the 20's or so. Another student and myself have decided to do an
independant study involving the clothing. We would like to catalog the clothing
by year, repair what damages we can, organize and store the items correctly.
So far, I've found a few websites on caring for vintage clothing as well as
some books on the subject. What I'm lacking, though, is a way to date the
clothing. I've found numerous sites and books on Victorian-or-before garments,
but they all seem to be lacking on the 20's through 60's. I know a few basic
features of the different eras (low waists in the late 20's, etc.), but would
like to find more specific characteristics.
Does anyone here know of any websites or good books on the subject? If so,
please let me know... by email, if possible. ) Thanks so
much in advance....

-Alex Moehagen

Help w/University Vintage Stash?

A few thoughts on the subject of costumes:
One of my sisters once bought what she thought was a Victorian dress,
paid a pretty penny for it. Closer examination proved it to be a very
nice reproduction, probably made for stage wear. The odd thing was the
much smaller size of it ---few people are that small nowadays. Some of
the notions and stitching methods used were a dead giveaway that it was
a more recent reproduction, though.
When we toured the aviation museum in Dayton, Ohio, I was amazed at
the petite sizes worn by all of the pilots during WWI. At the time, I
was a size 10 myself, and the uniforms looked tiny, small waists and
chests. With shoe sizes topping out at men's 8/9, they looked smaller
than my then-current women's 8 & 1/2 shoe size. The sizes of lasts used
in shoe-making has changed over time, so my shoes could well have been
larger.
Is this costume collection insured, with an up-to-date valuation?
Recently, the costume dept. at one local high school burned, destroying
all of the costumes. (I had contributed some of my finds during the time
DD#1 was in their acting program.)
You might run a check online, looking at vintage patterns from the
eras, and comparing them to your costumes, although I have seen few
patterns dating before the 30's. There is a costumer's bible, though.
Someone here will probably come up with the title, I cannot think of it.
It may well be worth hiring a professional to evaluate the age and
worth of the costumes. Costumes are possibly much altered over time, and
it might prove very difficult to come up with an accurate estimate of
their age.
Funny sig, BTW.
Cea shrugging
---
(AtlasCoughed)
snip
I work in the costume department at a college in Wisconsin. We have a
large storage of vintage clothing dating, near as we can tell from a
brief glance, back to the 20's or so. Another student and myself have
decided to do an independant study involving the clothing. We would like
to catalog the clothing by year, repair what damages we can, organize
and store the items correctly. So far, I've found a few websites on
caring for vintage clothing as well as some books on the subject. What
I'm lacking, though, is a way to date the clothing. I've found numerous
sites and books on Victorian-or-before garments, but they all seem to be
lacking on the 20's through 60's. I know a few basic features of the
different eras (low waists in the late 20's, etc.), but would like to
find more specific characteristics.
Does anyone here know of any websites or good books on the subject? If
so, please let me know... by email, if possible. )
Thanks so much in advance....
-Alex Moehagen

Maybe these will help:

http://www.costumes.org/history/100p...osthistpage.ht

http://www.pastpatterns.com

http://www.oldpatterns.com

http://www.vpll.org

http://www.costumegallery.com/research.ht

Good luck

Beck


-
Kitty Fluf

Posted via MooTal
http://mootalk.com

On 07 Dec 2003 06:07:41 GMT, (AtlasCoughed)
wrote, in part:

What I'm lacking, though, is a way to date the
clothing. I've found numerous sites and books on Victorian-or-before garments,
but they all seem to be lacking on the 20's through 60's. I know a few basic
features of the different eras (low waists in the late 20's, etc.), but would
like to find more specific characteristics.
Does anyone here know of any websites or good books on the subject? If so,
please let me know... by email, if possible. ) Thanks so
much in advance....

Alex,
Dover has a series of books called "Everyday Fashions of the
(insert decade) as Pictured in Sears Catalogs." They run from
the 1920s through the 1960s and while they may not be high style,
they do show what regular folks were wearing.


Peaches

I have a book called "20th Century Fashion" by John Peacock, who was senior
fashion designer for the BBC. It was published in 1993 by Thames and Hudson
so no ISBN number. Covers everything from Couture wear, bridal wear, day
wear, under wear and accessories from 1900 to 1990.

See
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...400248-7234227


"Kitty Fluff" wrote in message
om...
Maybe these will help:

http://www.costumes.org/history/100p...sthistpage.htm

http://www.pastpatterns.com/

http://www.oldpatterns.com/

http://www.vpll.org/

http://www.costumegallery.com/research.htm


Good luck!

Becky



--
Kitty Fluff

Posted via MooTalk
http://mootalk.com

Hi Alex

I sure agree with Peaches about Dover Publications. I took extensiv
courses on the History of Fashion in the last year while getting m
Fashion Design training. So this topic is still fresh in my mind an
notes. I had difficulty finding the website at the time for Dover s
here it is

http://store.doverpublications.com/b...es--collecting
costume--textile.htm

I absolutely LOVE Dover's books and have many myself. They are ver
REASONABLY priced. I understand their store in NYC is just a delight
They have a wonderful philosophy about sharing art with th
masses....many without copyrighting

Please keep in touch in you have any difficulties....I MAY be able t
connect you with my instructor who is pretty near an expert in thi
area. Her class was dazzling.......I'll never be the same! (In a goo
way...lol!

Beck


-
Kitty Fluf

Posted via MooTal
http://mootalk.com

Everyone-
Thanks so much for all the great info!! I'm hoping that I can talk the costume
shop supervisor into a few book purchases but, failing that, I'll buy the
things myself.

My hope is that my partner-in-crime and I can, at the VERY least, stop the
deterioration of the garments. They're crammed into a closet so tightly that
you can't pull them out. A beaded 20's dress on a hanger smushed in with
lord-knows-what... makes me want to sob!!

But thank you all so much. I had no idea there were so many references around,
or that you could buy books of old catalogs (which was my first thought...).
BTW, I'm photographing much of the clothing today and will be posting some of
the pictures on my website. If anyone here would like to see the project in
action, go to:
http://www.geocities.com/lexerfly/
Hopefully I'll have the pictures up soon. Right now the site is just a journal.
Not for long... muwahahaha.... ahem.

Thanks again.
-Alex Moehagen

On 09 Dec 2003 14:38:42 GMT, AtlasCoughed wrote:
My hope is that my partner-in-crime and I can, at the VERY least, stop the
deterioration of the garments. They're crammed into a closet so tightly that
you can't pull them out. A beaded 20's dress on a hanger smushed in with
lord-knows-what... makes me want to sob!!

AARGH! On hangers, yet???

Does your school happen to have a textiles and clothing department? They
often have someone with at least some knowledge of textile conservation.
Kent State, for instance, has a wonderful program:
http://dept.kent.edu/museum/staff/care.html

There's also a Textile Conservation list hosted by Smithsonian; see:
http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?...ISTSERV.SI.EDU
These are professional conservationists who might also have some advice
or resources to suggest to you.

Kay

On 9 Dec 2003 22:42:06 GMT, Kay Lancaster wrote:


AARGH! On hangers, yet???

snip

Mmn - that rather makes me weep, too. Hanging a beaded dress can rip it to
shreds. As a first port of call, you might want to get all those garments
off the hangers, layered with acid-free tissue and gently rolled or folded,
with acid-free tissue between every fold, and stored away from the light
with a good moth repellent.

I use plain old lavender bags, plus a can of Doom when necessary, and store
items on wooden shelves lined with unbleached calico. I do hang
lighter-weight garments, but nothing beaded, sequinned, bias-cut or
metallics like the lamés.

Trish

Trishty wrote:

On 9 Dec 2003 22:42:06 GMT, Kay Lancaster wrote:

AARGH! On hangers, yet???

snip

Mmn - that rather makes me weep, too. Hanging a beaded dress can rip it to
shreds. As a first port of call, you might want to get all those garments
off the hangers, layered with acid-free tissue and gently rolled or folded,
with acid-free tissue between every fold, and stored away from the light
with a good moth repellent.

I use plain old lavender bags, plus a can of Doom when necessary, and store
items on wooden shelves lined with unbleached calico. I do hang
lighter-weight garments, but nothing beaded, sequinned, bias-cut or
metallics like the lamés.

Trish


I've come over all faint at the very idea of hangers! Arrgh indeed!

Museums will tell you where you can get acid free boxes for storing this
sort of thing. And do, DO layer with tissue! Sharp creases are not
only a bugger to get out, but can damage the fabric: it can split along
the crease.

And don't use any old dry cleaners to clean them! You need to hunt up a
specialist: pricey, but worth it!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!