2022 ICOM Costume Committee Annual Conference ‘The Ritual Power of Clothing’

ICOM Costume annual conference theme ‘The Ritual power of Clothing’ developed in a selection of posters presented on General conference website: 15 posters (countries represented: Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, Italy…) and paper sessions with 26 papers presented during the meetings (joint meeting, separate meetings and off -site meeting). ICOM Costume joint meeting with ICDAD and Glass ‘The Power of Collecting and Collections’ was attended by over 100 ICOM members with 9 papers presented (each committee had convened 3 papers) sharing interest on Decorative Arts, Design and Fashion. ICOM Costume separate meetings at congress conference centre in Prague (in-person and hybrid format) and off -site meeting at the museum of Decorative Arts in Prague gathered over 60 ICOM members in-person.

‘The Ritual Power of Clothing’ seeks to explore rituals as part of religious, professional and personal life. As these rituals grow around the most important social events, we all have to submit to them, more or less willingly. All ritualistic behaviour requires a visual setting. It most important part is clothing. The right choice of garment proves commitment to the ritual and knowledge of the rules that govern it. The ritual power of fashion is the infi nite and ever-changing fi eld of researches. This final paper session ‘Making, Collecting, Wearing, Displaying the Clothes of the Rituals’ convened together colleagues from 21 countries.

Paper sessions developed in 4 sub themes: ‘The Clothes of Rites de Passage’; ‘Rituals Practices and Traditional Patterns’; ‘The Impact of Rite’s in Clothing and Adornment’; ‘Making, Collecting, Wearing, Displaying the Clothes of the Rituals’ (23 countries represented: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Iran, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA).

Off site meeting was organized at the Museum of Applied Art in Prague. The day began with a special tour of the museum storage in the morning with a focus on clothing items and conservation aspects the committee could approach the variety of the collections. It was a rich morning with many interactions, discussions and sharing knowledge between museum professionals about costume conservation, textile research and fashion display.
Back to the museum the committee had a gallery talk around the ‘Power of Lace’ exhibition leaded by the chief curator, Konstantina Hlaváčková. The afternoon was dedicated to the fi nal part of ICOM Costume paper sessions of the 2022 ICOM Costume Committee Annual Conference.

Post conference tour to Ceský Krumlov was attended by 20 ICOM Costume members and accompanying persons (11 countries represented: Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Columbia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, United Kingdom). A very rich program was organised by Kateřina Cichrová. To start visiting the baroque theatre collection and the museum storages, a guided tour in the castle. To close the day the committee had a special tour of the current exhibition.

In addition to the paper sessions organized by the general conference in Prague, Corinne Thépaut-Cabasset, ICOM Costume chair and project leader, presented ICOM Costume Solidarity Project ‘Clothing the Pandemic’ during the Solidarity session at Prague Congress Centre. The ‘Folk Costume Heritage From Ukraine’ was published on ICOM costume website during the General Conference venue in Prague.

2022 was a very special year for the committee as it celebrated its 60th Anniversary.
The committee was founded in 1962 by French Costume historian François Boucher. ICOM Costume Committee was delighted to announce the recipients of the unique ICOM Costume 60th Anniversary Award at the French Cultural Institute in Prague. With this unique award, ICOM Costume International Committee was committed to celebrating excellence, innovation and collaboration across our specialism. The Evaluation Committee were impressed with the very high standard of the projects submitted and the unique contributions they have made to the field of fashion and dress history research. First prize was awarded to Alexandra Palmer, for her publication and associated touring exhibition, Christian Dior: History and Modernity, 1947-57. The first combined technical and social study of Christian Dior’s New Look, this rigorously researched project expanded the possibilities for approaches to fashion scholarship, serving as a model for advancing research in fashion and dress history. Two further awards for highly commended projects were awarded to the China National Silk Museum for their project ‘Ming Costume in Memory’, and to the Westminster Menswear Archive for ‘Invisible Men’. The China National Silk Museum’s project encompassed long-term conservation treatment and research into excavated garments from the Ming dynasty and fostered international collaboration with Korean National University of Cultural Heritage (KNU) to expand studies of Ming costume history. This model of advancing academic scholarship through collaboration was judged to be an innovative and forward-looking approach for the development of fashion and dress history research. As the largest exhibition of menswear to be staged in the UK, the Westminster Menswear Archive’s ‘Invisible Men’ project in 2019 was uniquely innovative, prefiguring the current concentration on menswear in museum exhibition projects. Their efforts to propose a parity of objects, between workwear, uniforms and designer garments, are especially worthy of recognition for challenging the orthodoxy of dress collections and exhibitions.

Corinne Thépaut-Cabasset, Chair of the international committee ICOM Costume for the museums and collections of Costume, Fashion and Textiles.

ISBN: 978-2-491997-72-4
Proceedings edited by Georgina Ripley, ICOM Costume Board member, Principal Curator, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh.
Cover by Virginie Lassarre.
© All copyrights, ICOM Costume 2022

Contents

The Art of Gurama
Melikova, Amina Icherisheher

Buddhist Practitioners’ Garments (Kasaya) and the Transformation of Their Functions: Focusing on the Shuiluhui Rite
Yamakawa, Aki

“Casula vero significare debet opera”: Metaphors, allegories, and the mystical significance of liturgical garments in the accounts of the Fathers of the Church
Piccolo Paci, Sara

The Power of Colombian Ethnic Communities through Costume
Muñoz, Jiménez María del Pilar and Parra Vorobiova, Reguina

Women of Fashion Museums: Stories of enlightened women, art historians, collectors, and editors who have brought fashion into museums
Spadaccini, Virginia

Kiss and cry: the power of costumes in top-level artistic sports competitions
Reymond, Patricia

The Fashion World of the Kalef Family
Maskareli, Draginja

The Robe of Solomon Molcho: its history, restoration, and current presentation
Jančo, Milan

Complementary essay
Dressed in Light: Saint John Paul II enters the III Millennium
Bernard Berthod

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