Productive deterioration: Embracing decay in fashion curation

Fashion curation in museum and heritage contexts often privileges intactness and the appearance of perfection in display objects. Whereas the physical state of objects shapes the stories that can be drawn from their display, this article argues for an expansive approach to curation, drawn from precedents in art curation and heritage studies, that incorporates visibly decaying and/or deteriorated materials. Curating decay broadens and complicates the narratives presented through practices of fashion curation. Incorporating heritage and cultural studies, archaeology, object analysis and the execution of research workshops and critical conservation/curation, this research reflects upon the generative power of decay and argues for its application to fashion curation to produce new avenues for creative work and narrative construction.