Abstract
The exhibition Cabinets of Costume was undertaken as part of an international conference, Culture, Costume, and Dress at Birmingham City University (BCU) in May 2017. Its aim was to highlight two study collections held at BCU — the first, the Historical Dress Archive, which includes the Kate Elizabeth Bunce objects, and the second, the Art and Design Archives. Referencing the previous practice of object-based study to inform current practice at the Municipal School of Art, Birmingham, this paper will explore the cultural and creative capital of this assemblage of everyday historic dress uncovered in 2012 at BCU. Focusing on the Historical Dress Archive the initiative was developed to enable undergraduates across the faculty of Art, Design and Media at BCU to study extant historical dress, creating five representations or ‘ghosts’ of the objects of study. The initiative and exhibition offered an opportunity for a student-academic partnership to share the practices of object-based study as a creative catalyst, to inform costume practices as a live project.
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