#WeWearCulture | Discover How The Met Preserves the World's Largest Costume Collection

[Music] welcome to the Mets costume Institute conservation laboratory this completely state-of-the-art facility includes D and analytical capabilities our conservation team is responsible for the preservation and conservation treatment of all fashion and costume artifacts in the museum a collection which numbers almost 36,000 objects we have four objects here so have a look around and we'll tell you about their history and our conservation approach this is a mans suit from the 18th century that would have been worn to court in the final days of the French monarchy this is the white tie of its time period the silk velvet is woven with stripes so you see this pink ground fabric behind my job is to make it strong enough that it can be exhibited the lining gets a lot of wear and tear as it goes on and off of mannequins and so I'm using new fabrics and new Stitches to make it structurally stable and strong then there's an overlay of sheer fabric that will protect the original material from any abrasion and future researchers can still see that original material even through the conservation work on the waste coat the fabric around the buttons split so I sewed them closed a lot of the needles that I used are curved needles designed for eye surgeons the tailor and the embroidery used fabric needles and threads I'm using the same three materials so I see myself as the continuation of the work that went into the suit and now I'm just helping it travel into the [Music] future this is an American dress from about 1885 it wasn't as formal as has an evening dress a ball gown like many of our 19th century garments it's stored flat in our collection so we don't get a clear sense of the silhouette but the skirt would have been worn over a bustle at this date the bule is at its greatest expanse it's almost perpendicular to the body in addition there's a little silk pillow that's filled with st stitched into the skirt and this would have given just a bit of added volume the bonus would have been worn over a corset but for a really perfect fit the bonice is also boned there is the name and address of the New York dress maker antoan raon it is in the late 19th century that we really start to see designers claiming their work this would have had such an extraordinary impact when a woman walked into a room it's really sculptural in its effect in conservation we usually avoid doing restorative treatments but if there's something on the Garment that misrepresents the way that it was intended to look we will correct that if we can that was the situation with this ball gown from 1898 was made by the house of worth one of the top Parisian Couture houses in the second half of the 19th century we have a silk brocade we have the butterfly in a triangular design so that they fit the panels of the skirt there are seams that run up the center front and the sides covered with this ribbon design much of the applique had been lost this was very distracting so we added a silk crepe fabric to fill in the losses died to harmonized with the dress the silk tool under sleeves had already been lost and restored stored so we replaced it with new netting the result was very gratifying we want the public to see the Garment as a cohesive hole rather than a damaged [Music] object as a conservator the reason I love Plastics is that they're kind of a ticking Time Bomb we're not quite sure how they're going to age and they're very challenging to preserve we love to collect Iris van herpen's work she is one of the most Innovative designers working today for this dress called Moon Iris van herpin took a polyurethane Rubber and mixed metal filings in it she then poured it over a cotton dress took magnets pulsed it on top and bottom to create the craggy moonscape that you see it's actually quite soft and supple from a preventive conservation perspective we're concerned that it will start to harden and degrade we would like to store it without oxygen and in the dark this dress is called bird on top it has actual bird skulls with pearls and glass eyes attached and then dipped in silicone these dresses are made from completely unorthodox materials so we understand we might not be able to make them last however we collected these pieces directly from the runway to safeguard them and try to prolong their [Music] life thank you for visiting the ano Mur costume Center it was a pleasure to give you a behind the-scenes look into what we do here in the [Music] lab

Channel: The Met

Views: 39,949

Keywords: the met, google arts and culture, fashion, art, metropolitan museum, conservation room vr, laboratory vr, google vr, exhibits in vr, 360 videos, conserving fashion, fashion in vr, virtual reality fashion, culture vr, oculus virtual reality, free vr videos

Id: XsaoWDiHres

Length: 5min 55sec (355 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 08 2017