From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Textile Conservator Elizabeth-Anne Haldane describes the conservation work undertaken on an 8th-century Egyptian tunic – one of the exhibits to be displayed in the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries."
From Forever Paris: "Marché Saint-Pierre is the largest fabric store in the world, and it sits at the foot of Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre. Seven floors, 3,500 square feet (325 square meters), creaking wooden floors, shelves stacked to the ceiling. Cotton, lace, tulle, upholstery fabric, ribbons, linings — the selection is overwhelming in the best possible way."
From the National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne: "From the 'little white dress’ in every woman's wardrobe to voluminous sleeves, bold necklines and romantic plaids and tartans, fashion of the long Regency era (1795-1820s) was as daring as it was demure. As part of Observations, US-based fashion historian and author Hilary Davidson explores the detail, craftspersonship and evolution of women’s fashion in the Regency era."
From the Quilt Index: "I'm excited to announce the Quilt Index is the home for Barbara Brackman's excellent Quilt Detective series. Brackman wrote over 150 articles on quilt identification for the subscription service from 2005-2011. These articles are the perfect place to brush up on your dating skills or start your quilt history journey."
From Historic Royal Palaces: "In the 18th century, Mantua dresses were the height of court fashion. In this video, our experts discuss a rare and spectacular dress that dates from around 1756. It's 210cm in width, designed to show off how much expensive fabric the wearer could afford. Furthermore, the wider you were, the more likely it would be that you were seen. Few such Mantua dresses have survived from this period, making this a rare treasure within Historic Royal Palaces' collections."
Enjoy The History of Quilting in Four Minutes, narrated by Padraic Fisher, National Wool Museum Director. Created for the National Wool Museum, Geelong exhibition Necessity: waggas and the art of making do, 2021.
From George Washington's Mount Vernon, "According to tradition, we believe Martha Washington made this needle book and pincushion. Both are embroidered with silver and silk thread and feature colorful birds amid berry bushes."
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Step inside ballet history with this unboxing video of rare ballet costumes and ballet shoes worn by some of the most legendary dancers of the 20th century. Join curator of dance Jane Pritchard as she carefully unboxes and explores these historic ballet objects – from Margot Fonteyn’s costume from The Sleeping Beauty, designed by Oliver Messel in 1946, to a ballet shoe thought to have been worn by Anna Pavlova in the 1920s."
From the Brooklyn Museum: "Solid Gold explores 6,000 years of gold in forms that express beauty, joy, ritual, and success. With over 500 gold objects ranging from fashion, jewelry, and luxury objects to painting, sculpture, and film, Solid Gold provides a 360-degree view of our millennia-long fascination and obsession with gold, while discussing the ramifications of its pursuit. Enjoy just a few of the highlights alongside Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture."
This past Thursday the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were revealed, and with it a new set of nominees for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. One of the five celebrated nominees this year was for Malgosia Turzanska and her costumes for the period historical drama, Hamnet. Join Joe Zee as part of Focus Features: Dressed series alongside Malgosia and film stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, as the discuss the film, which dramatizes the life of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway, and the influences they used to bring the world of Shakespearean England to life.
An Ecology of Quilts: The Natural History of American Textiles brings together approximately 30 examples, spanning the 18th to 20th centuries, from the Museum’s rich collection of more than 600 quilts and presents them from an ecological perspective, tracing patterns of relationships between the environment and traditional quilting practices.
From The Met: "Follow the conservation treatment of “King Arthur” from the “Nine Heroes Tapestries” series, among the oldest in The Met’s collection. The tapestry had not been treated since 1949, when it first came into The Met’s collection. Watch as conservators clean, stabilize, and reweave fragile areas of the work, finally reinstalling it at The Cloisters."
The Bayeux Tapestry is coming to London for a major exhibition at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.
From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston: "In rural Chinese villages today, women are creating dynamic patchwork textiles, as their mothers and grandmothers did before them. This art form, which evolved from ancient Buddhist and Daoist customs of monks dressing in patched rags to project a sense of humility, is rooted in practicality, with the fabrics serving as bed and window covers, door curtains, and children’s clothing. The vibrant abstract compositions demonstrate creativity and fine artistic sensibilities that flourish far beyond the borders of established Chinese art canons."
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Elsa Schiaparelli (1890 – 1973) pushed boundaries as a fashion designer, transforming functional items of clothing into unique style statements. Her evening suits embody the height of 1930s haute couture, owing to their intricate embellishments, luxurious textiles and severe tailoring. Her collaborations with Surrealist artists like Salvador Dali produced provocative, even shocking designs. Theatrical accessories such as the shoe-shaped hat, her ‘Tears’ dress patterned to look like torn flesh, and the uncanny ‘Skeleton’ dress complete with the dramatic outline of bones, represent Schiaparelli at her most radical."
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Join Senior Paper Conservator Susan Catcher as she conserves a fragile 200-year-old fan from the era of Marie Antoinette. Using specialist conservation techniques (plus plenty of patience and a porcupine quill!) Susan addresses the structural integrity of the fan – reinforcing the back and creating a hinge to allow it to open and close once again. She also re-adheres fiddly loose sequins, stabilises areas of wear, and subtly retouches the design using watercolour paint."
From The Met: "Join scholar Carol Rodríguez and conservator Christine Giuntini in an exploration of the Wari Feathered Panels (600–900 CE), nine of which are now installed in the newly-renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. In 1943 a cache of ninety-six feather panels was found in the Churunga Valley in Peru. The panels had been rolled up and placed in ceramic jars that were then buried at a ceremonial center. Each panel is densely covered with tens of thousands of feathers, primarily from the blue-and-yellow macaw, which lives in the Amazonian rainforest."
The finale to the Downton Abbey saga, appropriately titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, recently debuted in theaters and with it came a cavalcade of picture perfect period costumes to match. Join Joe Zee, host of Focus Features: Dressed series, as he speaks with stars Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, and costume designer Anna Robbins to chat about their outfits, the inspirations behind them, and the place they hold within the show and films legacy.
Victoria and Albert Museum: Mounting An 18th-Century Silk Dress – Textile Conservation Step-by-Step
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "In this video, we take you behind the scenes of the Textile Conservation Studio to see how museum mounting professionals Lauren and Hannah mount and display an original 18th-century robe à la française (also known as a sack-back dress). Experience each step of the textile mounting process — from preparing the mannequin with conservation-safe materials, to supporting delicate fabrics – all ensuring the long-term care of the garment."
From the National Trust: "Famous actress Ellen Terry wore this shimmering dress in the 1888 production of Macbeth. Decorated in more than 1,000 beetle wings, it was even immortalised in a painting by John Singer Sargent."