Spurensuche am Objekt

Seeking for traces Object-based research on altered historic clothing A tea gown made from tablecloth, a communion or wedding dress from parachute silk. These are but a few of the countless examples in the use of textile material and practices of “making do and mend” which defined post war periods and therefore are connected with these times in the collective memory. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” The alteration and reuse of clothing, however, was a commonplace practice until the mid-20th century, not only confined to times of want and scarcity. This paper presents a dissertation project situated in the field of dress studies, that examines the significance of the alteration of clothes in the field of material culture studies and consumer culture studies. Applying an object-based research method, textiles and clothes of the textile collection of Industriemuseum des Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland (LVR) will be analysed.