ICOM Costume Conference 2015

Paper Sessions

Wednesday 9 September, University of Toronto


Session 1   
  09.00 - 10.30

  1. Introduction to ROM Collections. Alexandra Palmer, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
  2. What's a Conservator to do? Costume Exhibition Issues. Chris Paulocik, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
  3. Textile conservation and the display of historical costumes. Caterina Florio, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Canada
  4. Condition as Content: Focusing on Condition in Dress. Neil Brochu, City of Toronto Museum Service, Canada
  5. Love in Fine Fashion: A fresh approach to an exhibition of wedding dresses. Cynthia Cooper, McCord Museum, Montreal, Canada


Session 2     11.00 - 12.00

  1. Crinolines and Coatees: Recreating 1850s Costume in the Outdoor Living Museum. Erin Santamaria, Sovereign Hill Museums Association, Ballarat, Australia
  2. Jacques Doucet: The Complex Case of the Libbey Dolls. Marissa Stevenson, Toledo Museum of Art, United States
  3. Worn Dress: Display as Meaning-making Mary Brooks, Durham University, United Kingdom

Thursday 10 September, University of Toronto


Session 3     09.00 - 10.00

  1. Design Issues: Fashion Exhibitions and Scholarship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Michelle Finamore, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, United States
  2. Exploring the potential for the digital as part of the haptic experience in museum curating. Marie O’Mahony, Ontario College of Art + Design University, Toronto, Canada
  3. Fashion For Thought: An Exhibition And A Workshop At Once. Ninke Bloemberg, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands


Session 4     10.00 - 11.00  

  1. A Step Ahead: Moving Fashion History Forward through Researching and Exhibiting Footwear. Elizabeth Semmelhack, Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada
  2. Prize work. June Swann, Formerly Northampton Museum, United Kingdom
  3. Magnets and Textile Mounting Systems at the Royal Ontario Museum. Karla Livingston and Kristiina Lahde, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada


Session 5     11.30 - 12.30

  1. Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe: New Approaches to the Costume collection of the Israel Museum. Efrat Assaf-Shapira, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
  2. Tracing the Threads of Life: Biographical Clues in Dress. M. Elaine Mackay, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
  3. Artful Dressing: Exhibiting the Fashions of Agnes Etherington. Carolyn Dowdell, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

Friday 11 September, University of Toronto


Session 6     09.00 - 10.30

  1. The Paramour’s Dresses - The Residence Gallery in the North Oratory Salzburg. Dorothea Nicolai, Salzburg Festival, Austria
  2. Costume Art and Research at Critical Costume 2015: Curatorial Approaches and New Practices in Exhibiting Contemporary Performance Costume. Sofia Pantouvaki, Aalto University, Finland
  3. The Conservation Treatment of Maud Allen’s Vision of Salome Costume. Brenna Cook, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Canada
  4. Sea-silk – rediscovering a precious ancient textile material. Felicitas Maeder, Natural History Museum, Basel, Switzerland
  5. Dressing the New World: The Trade and the Culture of Clothing in the Spanish Colonies (1600-1800). Corinne Thepaut-Cabasset, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Session 7     11.00 - 12.00

  1. Embodying Dress in Context Online. Christina Bates, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Canada
  2. The Street Fashion Budapest project. “The present is the past of the future.” Ildiko Simonvics, Kiscelli Museum, Budapest History Museum, Hungary
  3. Curating Long Distance: A Series of Exhibitions at the Western Reserve Historical Society. Colleen Callahan, United States

Saturday 12 September, Fort York


Session 8     09.00 - 10.00

  1. Savage Dressing: Costume Mounting for an Alexander McQueen Exhibition. Lara Flecker, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom and Joyce Fung, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
  2. Refashioning the Fashion Exhibit at the Oakville Museum. Jennifer Triemstra-Johnston, Oakville Museum, Canada
  3. An exhibition on tour: Mythos Chanel. Maria Spitz, Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen, Germany

Session 9     10.30 - 11.30

  1. 21st century Mannequins. Paul Sohi, Royal College of Art/Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
  2. Fiercely Independent – Fashion In An Art School. Gillion Carrara, Fashion Resource Center, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, United States
  3. Dress Exhibitions In Nigerian Museums. Showcasing History, Fashion, Creativity And Transatlantic Encounters. Louisa Nnenna Onuoha, National Commission For Museums And Monuments, Ibadan, Nigeri

Sunday 13 September, Aga Khan Museum


Session 10

  1. The Reconstruction and Presentation of a French Court Dress. Johannes Pietsch, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munchen, Germany
  2. Displaying and Interpreting Dress: an Exhibition of Shanghai Modern. Jillian Li, Shanghai Museum of Textile and Costume, China