The conservation field has recently experienced a significant paradigm shift called “peoples-based” conservation, which centers collaboration with communities for whom cultural heritage has meaning. This turn is so significant that it has the possibility of upending core preservation practices of dress museology, and yet, few dress studies professionals might be aware that this shift has even occurred, or that it has a name. This article describes the transformative move in conservation ethics towards peoples-based approaches and points to potential impacts this shift might have on the preservation of dress artifacts. One specific fashion museological practice—the prohibition against the wearing of historic dress—is explored as an example of how this shift towards peoples-based conservation approaches opens exciting opportunities for dress professionals, empowering them to consider how collaborative preservation and interpretive strategies might sustain and even enhance the meaning of the collection objects.