Negotiating Authenticity: The Application of Fashion Conservation Decision-Making to the Treatment of an Altered Garment

Fashion conservation as a facet of textile conservation incorporates a values-based approach that acknowledges the fashionable identity of an object when making treatment decisions. Use of this ethical basis is effective when navigating the competing values of clothing items in a conservation context, which are frequently altered before they enter a museum collection. The treatment of a modified 1920s dress within the Fashion and Textile Collection at the University of Delaware (UD FTC) navigated conflicting design and functional values by discerning the original material composition of the dress and the timeline of alterations. Ultimately the slip was removed, but other possible changes to the original construction were allowed to remain. Contemporary conversations in the conservation of fashion objects were consulted to develop a treatment approach that prioritized elements of the dress connected to the 1920s fashion zeitgeist while maintaining foundational conservation principles of responsible intervention.