Author Archive for Melanie Pitkin

Who wore this Dior?

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Dior2Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

Haute Couture (or “High Fashion”), as the name suggests, is not for just anyone. It is the pinnacle of fashion, made specifically to the exact dimensions of the wearer, in high quality, luxurious fabrics, virtually all by hand (the seams are machine sewn), and a single garment can take up to 4 months to make. But, when it comes to Haute Couture, you’re not just buying a piece of clothing; you’re buying a piece of art!

So who wore this Dior?

It is a three piece suit of blue wool serge designed by Christian Dior for the Spring 1950 ‘Vertical Line’ collection. It features a bodice with long pencil skirt and swing back jacket. The Museum purchased the outfit from a vendor in London in 1994, who informs us that it was owned by a female member of the Firestone family (founders of the Firestone tyre company) of Detroit, USA.

Of the women in this family, Mrs Elizabeth Parke Firestone is the most thought-of for her expensive taste and fashion sense. Elizabeth (1897-1990) was married to Harvey S. Firestone Jr, son of the founder of the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company. Her daughter, Martha Firestone, married William Clay Ford Snr, grandson of Henry Ford.

elizfirestoneMrs Elizabeth Parke Firestone, Image courtesy of The Henry Ford Research Center

Between 1915 and 1975, Elizabeth acquired an impressive wardrobe of Haute Couture garments, many of which are now in the collection of the Benson Ford Research Center in Dearborn, Michigan, and gained a reputation for being one of America’s “best dressed women”. Dior and Balenciaga were her preferred designers and amongst the collection is a 1952 Christian Dior red silk faille dress with matching shoes, a sketch for a gown sent for approval in 1956 (Elizabeth often purchased garments without ever having tried them on!) and a stunning 1953 Balenciaga linen print dress.

Some research with the Benson Ford Research Center, however, was unfortunately unable to confirm if Elizabeth was, in fact, the owner of this suit. Their collection of Firestone Family Papers includes several folders of correspondence with Christian Dior, but alas, without any reference to this 1950 piece. However, not all of Elizabeth’s couture collection went to the Center. Some were also sold at auction and some were donated to colleges in Ohio.

europe54Image courtesy of The Henry Ford Research Center

In the meantime, if anyone can shed light on the Firestone family and this particular Dior suit, please let us know.

Next week, I will be taking you inside the suit – looking at the intimate details normally obscured to the eye – and the workmanship involved in making a couture suit, like this, sit absolutely perfectly on the wearer!

Fashions on the Court

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oncourtPowerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

Nowadays, watching tennis is as much of a sport as playing it! While there is the game itself, the on court fashion is equally a crowd pleaser. During the Hopman Cup in Perth earlier this year, tennis legend Margaret Court observed that players’ outfits make them “look like they should be on the beach”. She argued that today’s fashion has gone overboard – it is clingy, shows everything and puts the spectators focus on the player’s body rather than on their game. While some may argue that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does highlight the drastic shift in attitudes towards tennis and tennis fashions.

In the last 135 years since women first started playing tennis, we have gone from head to toe coverings to barely there, and both extremes can be seen in the Museum’s collection.

tenniscostumePowerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

This late 19th century example from England comprises a long sleeved tunic jacket and ankle length skirt made from tussore silk. It is more like a fanciful costume than sporting attire and would have been worn with black stockings, laced shoes with a heel, hat and gloves. Fitted on the skirt of this particular example are a number of hooks and eyelets which allowed the wearer to fold up the bottom of the skirt while playing. Some other dresses from this time were even fitted with pockets or an apron for holding the balls, in readiness for serving, or the racquet while socialising off the court. Tennis dresses for women at this time were an indication of a ladies charm and elegance, a far cry from what they stand for today!

TEN-US OPEN-WILLIAMS SERVEImage courtesy of blackperspective.net

Our 21st century example is not really a dress, as such, but a ‘catsuit’! It was designed and made by Puma in 2002 and a similar one to this was worn by Serena Williams (see above) at the US Open in the same year (she beat her own sister in it to win the final!). It is a sleeveless one-piece suit with built in shorts, made of black polyester and a zip front. In other words, there isn’t much material and it’s worn like a second skin. It’s not elegant, but nor was it ever designed to be this way. Instead, it speaks business, strength and confidence and, for Serena Williams, an outfit like this can look very threatening to the opposition, showing off her muscular frame, which is in itself, an excellent strategy for gaining the psychological upper hand in a match.

serenaPowerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

Whether or not the ‘catsuit’ is a tennis fashion faux-pas, however, I am undecided. I think I’ve seen a lot worse on the tennis court – white socks with black sneakers, all over hair beads, the back-to-front cap, black leather knee high boots, one long sleeve and one short sleeve and wearing the same colour top or dress as the surface you’re playing on!

What do you think? Fashion faux-pas or fashion revolution? And, do you think we’ll ever see a revival of the ankle length skirt again!?

In case you’re baffled about which tennis player goes with each fashion faux-pas, here are the answers (L-R): Andre Agassi/Pete Sampras/Lleyton Hewitt, Venus Williams, Lleyton Hewitt, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Rafael Nadal.

Bosdyk Doll’s House- part four

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Gosia, the Museum's clever objects conservator, at work!

Gosia, the Museum's very clever conservator, in action!

The processes that follow an acquisition of an object into a museum’s collection are not as straightforward as some may think! All incoming objects need to be numbered, catalogued, researched and then documented and conserved. For one object, such as a broken vase, this may be quite time consuming, but if you think of the Bosdyk Doll’s House with approximately 2000 components…well, need I say anymore?!

This week I sat down with the Museum’s Objects Conservator, Gosia Dudek, to find out exactly what her involvement was in caring for the doll’s house.

Melanie: When did you first start work on the doll’s house?

Gosia: I started in September 2008 and finished in May 2009! But, I was working on other projects as well during that time.

Melanie: What was the aim of your work?

Gosia: To prepare the doll’s house for display and storage. This means recording its condition before and after treatment, which includes written and photographic documentation, and then the actual treatment.

Gosia working very carefully, room by room.

Gosia working very carefully, room by room.

Melanie: Can you describe what you were faced with when you first laid eyes on the doll’s house?

Gosia: It is a very large and detailed doll’s house. It’s over two meters high and has 20 rooms complete with furniture, electrical fittings, clothing, numerous homewares, ornaments as well as ‘people’ and ‘pets’. As you can imagine, the scale of all the pieces are rather small – a lot of them are between 3mm to 10mm in height and width.

Melanie: What was the condition of the doll’s house when it first came to the Museum? Were all the pieces attached?

Gosia: A number of the components were originally attached – some were fixed with screws, some were glued with various types of glue or stuck with double sided foam tape or blu-tack. Since the doll’s house was made over a period of 7 years, the tape, tack and glue dated to different points in time and were beginning to show signs of deterioration, mainly loss of adhesive properties. Also, the front of the doll’s house is open. This allowed dust to accumulate inside the house, especially on all the attached pieces and in hard to reach places – although, it was occasionally cleaned by Christine and Frans Bosdyk.

Melanie: Can you describe the types of things you had to do as a conservator to overcome these problems?

Gosia: My job was to clean the exterior and interior of the house and all its components, remove any deteriorated glue, double-sided foam tape, blu-tack, remove tarnish from silver pieces, repair any damaged parts etc. Then, my aim was to re-attach and secure as many pieces as possible using a variety of materials and techniques. Whenever possible I tried to secure objects by physical means using thread, Mylar (clear polyester film), silicon tubing, polyethylene foam, silk organza and metal wire. When that was not achievable, I had to use several types of acrylic adhesives or starch paste. The choice of adhesive depended on the kind of the materials the little objects were made of and where they were to be attached.

If you look carefully, you can see where some of the thread has been used to keep the books and newspapers in place...

If you look carefully, you can see where some of the thread has been used to keep the books and newspapers in place...

Melanie: Can you give some examples of how you used these materials on the different objects?

Gosia: I used thread for sewing and tying things down – such as the tablecloths to the tables; the bundles of linen and towels to shelves; the baby inside the pram and the mattress to the pram; pillows, mattresses and blankets to the beds; bath mats to basins or bundles of books to shelves. I used polyethylene foam to secure drawers to stop them from falling out of their spaces or to secure wine bottles in the wine racks. I glued things like the ceramic and glass cups and ornaments to the furniture and shelves, and used silicon tubing for securing things like the toothbrushes and spoons in their holders. I made stands out of silicone coated wire to support unsteady figurines.

An example of polyethylene foam used inside the drawers

An example of polyethylene foam used inside the drawers

Melanie: So, what didn’t you secure and why?

Gosia: Out of approximately 2000 pieces in the house, 158 individual pieces and assemblies (such as a table with crockery and cutlery on top) were left un-attached. These objects obstructed access to the back of rooms which need to be kept accessible for future cleaning and maintenance. These objects are currently packed and stored separately.

Melanie: How did you ensure you returned the object(s) to the right place in each room after you finished cleaning them?

Gosia: I worked from detailed photographs showing the original layouts of all 20 rooms and the exterior of the house.

Gosia methodically referring to the original photo layout

Gosia methodically referring to the original photo layout

Melanie: It sounds like incredibly painstaking work! How did you physically manage? I imagine you would need a lot of patience, steady hands and extremely good eyesight!

Gosia: I wear glasses normally and then on top of that, for very fine, detailed work, a pair of binoculars as well! I guess that yes, I must be a patient person, but when you are concentrating you’re aware of nothing else! The part that was a bit awkward for me was the height of the dolls house (it is 211cm tall), so I was standing on a ladder to access the rooms at the top and kneeling on the floor for the rooms at the bottom. The rooms in the middle were just right!

Melanie: For the individual cleaning of objects, what did you use?

Gosia: It depended on the material of the object I was cleaning. I brush vacuumed the exterior and all larger objects and the floors inside the house. Sometimes, when brush vacuuming was not sufficient, I also used groom-stick (a quite sticky, rubber-like material). Most of the objects – ceramic, glass, plastic and some painted surfaces – were cleaned using water and cotton wool buds. For metal objects I used mainly petroleum spirits. Removal of old glue deposits often involved the use of other solvents.

Melanie: Working up close and personal for so long with all the objects in each room must have given you the opportunity to pick up on some intimate details many people probably wouldn’t be able to see. What did you find most memorable?

Gosia: There were so many! Firstly, there are grandma’s dentures sitting inside her dresser; miniature books and bibles with the actual text on individual pages printed inside; six tiny biscuits sitting inside a tiny biscuit tin. Also, there are Swarovski miniature crystals and a gramophone that plays music. And, what about all those amazingly small framed photographs of the Bosdyk family hanging on walls and displayed on top of desks and dressers?! I was also quite touched by the handwritten messages on objects by Frans, such as “Hand made by F. Bosdyk inspired by Christine my wife 28-6-2003”. But the thing that impressed me most was the high quality workmanship and dedication of Frans Bosdyk – the desk in the library is the best example.

Grandma's dentures!

Grandma's dentures!

Melanie: You’ve done an amazing job! When will you have to start cleaning it again?

Gosia: Hopefully not for a long time… After treatment the front of the house was sealed with Mylar and a bespoke Tyvek cover was placed over the whole house to protect it from dust. At the moment the dolls house is kept in the Museum’s storage area, in controlled temperature and humidity conditions, awaiting a dust proof display case.

…And you thought moving house was hard!

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The Powerhouse Museum’s NSWGR steam crane locomotive 1082 was recently moved to a new home at the Museum’s Powerhouse Discovery Centre: Collection Stores at Castle Hill from its long-term storage location within the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh (Redfern). The locomotive was constructed by Robert Stephenson-Hawthorne in 1950 in Leeds in England and entered service in Australia on 10 February 1950. It was used for handling scrap metal and engine components, either by chains or the use of an electro-magnet, which was powered by a generator set (missing from 1082) on the left-hand side of the locomotive beside the crane mount. With a lifting capacity of 7 tonnes, the locomotive itself weighs 35 tonnes so, as you can probably imagine, moving it was no easy feat!

Staff from the Museum’s Registration and Conservation Departments worked alongside the mobile crane, transportation and railway contractors in the transfer. Because the overhead cranes in the Large Erecting Shop had been decommissioned by the railways some years before, the locomotive had to be moved outside and a mobile crane hired in for the lift. Because of tight clearances and a lack of space at the back of the shed, there was only room for a single crane and the low-loader. In order to give the low-loader enough room to reverse beneath the slung load, the mobile crane had to be positioned a fair distance away which, in turn, meant that its lifting capacity had to be increased to compensate. In the end, a 160-tonne mobile crane was organised to lift a mere 35 tonnes!

The need to shunt the locomotive into place (which means moving it along the track using another locomotive for power) meant that a fair amount of preparatory work was needed to ensure it moved smoothly without damage to bearings, valves, cylinders or wheels, even over such a relatively short distance. The connecting rods were removed, the bearings and axle boxes were freed up and the lubrication system to the bearings was checked to ensure good oil flow. A week prior to the transfer, 1082 was shunted from its long-held position behind a number of other vehicles at the end of 1 Road (track) in the Large Erecting Shop and placed at the front of the shed for ease of access.

On the morning of the movement, a diesel locomotive was used to shunt it from its temporary placement on 1 Road and all the way up to the other end of 2 Road, where it was pushed out through the back doors and positioned beneath the mobile crane, which was set up in the narrow driveway that runs along the rear of the workshop.

The mobile crane lifted the loco onto a low-loader, which proceeded off-site, en route to Castle Hill. It was originally anticipated that the load would be too high to transport during the day and that the truck would have to wait until 2am before it could begin the journey out of Sydney, but, once loaded, we discovered it could actually be transported there and then! A hydraulic control line problem with the low-loader, however, saw the movement delayed anyway and the loco didn’t arrive at Castle Hill until 3am!

Despite the wet weather, as you will see in the pictures, the loco was successfully unloaded at Castle Hill by two cranes, and moved into its new home by 7am. 1082 is now more accessible to the public and can be viewed on special open days at the Powerhouse Discovery Centre site.

Jennifer Edmonds, Heavy Engineering Conservator

Enoch Taylor shoe gauge

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MysteryObject 001Photography by Melanie Pitkin © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

Now that we have solved the Earoscope, it’s time for a new mystery object!

What you see above is part of a new acquisition from the Enoch Taylor & Co shoe archive.

From 1851-1970s, Enoch Taylor & Co specialised in the importation and manufacture of men’s, women’s and children’s shoes, first in Melbourne and then Sydney. From the 1970s they were exclusively producing boots and heavy duty footwear, including the T-Boot, at their Sydney warehouses. The company was managed by the Lee family from 1926-2004 and today it continues to operate in the hands of new owners.

The acquisition includes accounts ledgers, letterbooks, trademark certificates, photographs and shoes (both the finished product and those showing the different stages of shoe production), as well as this peculiar object.

MysteryObject 008Photography by Melanie Pitkin © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

So, what is it…?

Well, there are six separate metal pieces (five are made of brass) attached by a removable hinge and each piece is inscribed, as follows:

1. ‘ARMY STANDARD’
2. ‘3. 25. 40.’ on one side and ‘1 / 8’ and ‘86’ on the other
3. ‘3. 25. 40.’ on one side and ‘1 / 9’ and ‘STD’ on the other
4. ‘3. 25. 40’ on one side and ‘1 / 12’ and ‘STD’ on the other
5. ‘3. 25. 40’ on one side and ‘2 / 32’ and ‘STD’ on the other
6. ‘3. 25. 40’ on one side and ‘3 / 32’ and ‘STD’ on the other

The positioning of the grooves at the end of each metal piece is slightly different, which makes us think that this was possibly a gauge used for measuring the thickness of some part of a shoe, possibly the sole or leather used in the vamp or tongue? But, why would anyone need to know this?

MysteryObject 005Photography by Melanie Pitkin © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

Perhaps the inscription ‘ARMY STANDARD’ has something to do with it? This suggests that the object may have, in fact, been used as a device for ensuring that the strict army specifications placed on army boots were met, but what exactly were these specifications and how should we interpret those inscribed numbers mentioned above?

Has anyone seen anything like this before? I know of similar gauges to this used in the automotive industry, but have been unable to find examples for shoes. It’s over to you…

Meet the curator- Melanie Pitkin

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Photo N¼: 00z35932 (1Mb)Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

Name
Melanie Pitkin

What is your speciality area?
My academic background is in Ancient History and Egyptology so my main specialty area is actually Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period history. But, at the Museum I work mostly with our International Decorative Arts and Design collection (e.g. fashion, furniture, posters, ceramics and coins), and have developed a particularly strong interest in Central Asian and Middle Eastern textiles. I also dabble in transport history and the work of the aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave.

How long have you been working at the Museum?
Almost 3 years. But, before joining the Museum full-time, I volunteered with Anne Watson, former Curator of Architecture and Design.

What is your favourite object in the collection?
Well, there are a few. I love haute couture and the Museum’s fashion collection, especially the Balenciaga evening dress and Christian Lacroix shoes. For obvious reasons, I’m also attached to our small and select archaeology collection including our Egyptian ushabtis figures, Greek amphora vase and collection of daily life objects from Medieval and Roman Britain. In fact, this list of objects seems to evolve daily – so watch this space!

What piece of research or exhibition are you most proud of in your career at the Museum?
In 2007 I researched and documented the Museum’s Lawrence Hargrave collection and was able to expose the many thought patterns and processes involved behind his work for the first time. This man was not just ingenious for his contributions towards the first powered, controlled flight with his box kites (you can see the replicas of these hanging above Locomotive No 1 in the Museum), but he experimented with pretty much everything – engines, animal movement and propulsion, steam turbines, curved and flat surfaces and solar heating! I also loved my involvement with the development of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre: Collection Stores at Castle Hill.

‘Be the Change’ Inauguration Poster

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'Be the Change' Inauguration PosterPhotography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

In April, I made a visit to the Design Museum in London to see the 2009 Brit Insurance Design Awards. You see, the winning design was Shepard Fairey’s ‘Progress’ poster which became the driving force behind the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Election campaign, and shortly before leaving Sydney, I had assisted my colleague Anne-Marie Van de Ven on the acquisition documentation for Fairey’s ‘Be the Change’ Inauguration poster for our collection.

Both posters sit at opposite ends of the campaign spectrum. The winning ‘Progress’ poster was the very first ‘unofficial’ design produced by Fairey, before the official Obama campaign team brought him on board, while the Inauguration poster obviously signifies the successful end. Our poster, which is a silkscreen print on paper, was one of ten thousand produced and sold online to raise revenue for the Obama political party. Apart from representing the milestone that was the first African-American President to be elected in US history, Fairey’s image of Obama is also powerful, patriotic and what’s more – iconic. It is simple, yet evokes a very strong message, and true to Fairey’s form, became pervasive throughout much of American culture and the international media.

At a Museum like the Powerhouse, curators play an important role in collecting for the future. This means we need to keep abreast of trends and current affairs, including upcoming designers and design products. We purchased this poster online through the Inaugural Collectibles store, like 9,999 other people could, on the recommendation of Christopher Snelling, the Manager of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre at Castle Hill, who had personally ordered a copy of the poster online for himself. Interestingly, Christopher also has a history with Barack “Barry” Obama, having attended high school with him in Hawaii during the 1970s!

Buying online is not an uncommon phenomenon for Museums now. Powerhouse curators also acquire objects through purchases on EBay, but not without first determining the object’s provenance, condition and authenticity.

Chanel at the Powerhouse

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A8945 Chanel tweed suitPhotography by Andrew Frolows © Powerhouse Museum all rights reserved

The recent release of the new Coco Avant Chanel film inspired me to revisit the Museum’s very own collection of Chanel fashion to see just how much we hold which dates before the designer’s death in 1971.

From humble beginnings, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel started her career in fashion by designing and selling hats to French aristocrats, opening her own millinery shop in 1910 and combined millinery and fashion house in Paris in 1913. Her initial clothing designs were fashioned from low cost materials, such as jersey (used in men’s underwear!), including her trademark tailored suits, which had a prepossessing boyish look about them. In the years that followed, Coco had also introduced her signature No.5 perfume (1922), woollen cardigan jacket (1925) and ‘little black dress’ (1926) – classic and timeless additions to any woman’s wardrobe.

The earliest item in the Museum’s collection therefore comes at least a decade after this – a c.1938 full-length evening dress with cape. The dress echoes the atmosphere of Paris in the 1930s and was probably made not long before Coco closed the doors of her salon when France declared war on Germany in 1939. Jumping a further few decades, the Museum also houses two tweed suits (comprising a long sleeved jacket and knee length skirt) made from wool, dating to c.1965.

Unfortunately, the film did not cover much of Coco’s later fashions – in fact, it never even made it to WWII – but the whirlwind catwalk display at the end at least foreshadows many of the styles later adopted by Karl Lagerfeld when he took over as chief designer of the fashion house in 1983. The Museum’s collection from this point in time includes one of Lagerfeld’s very first creations for Chanel, or should I say “dinky-dye creations“! It is a black and white houndstooth jacket and skirt lined in Jenny Kee’s ‘Black Opal’ print with a matching print shirt. Jenny Kee met Karl Lagerfeld through some friends in the early 1980s and he was suitably impressed by what she was wearing. Not long after, he requested to use the print, which Kee allowed at no cost.

Another stunning Lagerfeld design in the Museum’s collection is the ensemble showcased as part of the 1991 Spring-Summer prêt-à-porter collection, which comprises a fluorescent pink suit (jacket and skirt) with matching hat, shoes, handbag and earrings, all with their own individual protective packaging boxes and bags. This suit, if only accompanied by an extra bottle of Bollinger, just yells “Patsy” from Absolutely Fabulous each time I look at it! Or, perhaps, if you are a Simpsons fan, you will recall the episode in which Marge buys the suit at a marked down price and finds it nets her and the family an invitation to the swish Springfield Country Club!

I often wonder what Coco would make of the whole Chanel Empire today? Would she approve of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs and the interlocking ‘CC’ logo? What would she think of today’s fashion culture and stick-thin models parading her clothes? How would she do things differently?

Any thoughts?