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We are sometimes asked how a particular object found its way to the TRC Collection in Leiden? Who are the donors? How do people hear about the TRC? Sometimes it is very simple and there is direct contact, or a parcel arrives in the post. On other occasions it can be a little more convoluted and involves the help of various people in different parts of the world.

Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago, 28 December, we published a blog by Shelley Anderson about the French designer, Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) and her fashion house.

Sample of the 'Tears & Lace' design, Darquer & Méry, Calais, France (TRC 2022.0003a).

For the last year the TRC Leiden has been cooperating with the indomitable Yasmine El Dorghamy, who is the editor of RAWI: Egypt’s Heritage Review series, based in Cairo, Egypt. More specifically, we have been working together on vol. 11 of the series, with the title: Egypt’s Costume History (2021). The project was supported by the Drosos Foundation and a grant from the Dutch Embassy in Cairo. 

Cotton quilt with a Flower and Berries motif, USA, 1850s (TRC 2019.2402).One of the oldest quilts (TRC 2019.2402) in the TRC collection dates to before the American Civil War (1861-1865). It’s a beautiful quilt in a Flowers and Berries motif, with nine large hand-appliquéd blocks, and is dated to c. 1850. In a blog article from 7 April 2020, TRC quilt specialists Susan Cave and Beverley Bennett argue that the quilt was very likely made by an enslaved woman, not for herself, but for the white family who owned her.

I have often wondered about this unknown woman. Was she proud of the beauty she created, of her obvious skill as a needle woman? Or did she hate this work as just one more task she was forced to do for a family not her own?

Length of 'George' cloth from Nigeria, 20th century (TRC 2019.1361).I am coming to the final stages of writing the third volume of the Bloomsbury World Encyclopadia of Embroidery, which is about embroidery from sub-Saharan Africa. Not surprisingly there is a list of things that need to be checked, added or thrown out.

One of the items on the list is a type of cloth called ‘George’, which has been described as embroidered cloth that is used among the Igbo people of Nigeria. It would appear that during the 20th century this type of cloth became more and more popular among a much wider group in Nigeria and among Nigerians living elsewhere in the world. Most Nigerians realise the cloth comes from India, but what exactly is it?

Looking in various books, articles and online items, including Nigerian shops selling George cloth, it became clear there is no consensus concerning what exactly George cloth is. Some of it is described as ‘plain George’, other forms as ‘fancy George’. There are also checked (tartan, plaid) Georges with embroidered squares, a plain George with gold coloured thread woven into it, as well as an embroidered George with floral motifs using sequins and mirrors.

Wedding photograph of Monica Hoogstraate and Wim Penders, 1966. The groom is wearing jacket TRC 2021.3360c.Often the biography of a garment is even more interesting than its material, decoration or technique.

A few months ago the TRC received a set of seven garments. They were donated by Monica Penders, daughter of the modern art dealer, Will Hoogstraate, who founded the Galerie D’Eendt in Amsterdam in 1960.

Monica’s husband, for their wedding in 1966, was given suitable clothing by an acquaintance, the son (Frans Wiegers) of the Dutch expressionist painter, Jan Wiegers (1893-1959). These are the clothes now in the TRC collection.

Wearing expensive clothing for one's wedding obtained from someone else seems to be a Dutch 'thing': I wore my father's jacket and waistcoat that he wore at his wedding in 1943, when I got married deep in the Dales of Yorkshire in 1985 (both garments now in the TRC Collection, TRC 2010.0078a)!

But back to the seven garments: they were already discussed in a previous TRC blog by Erica Prus, who focused on the tailoring house that made them in the mid-1930s, according to the labels sewn onto the clothing, namely the Maison Cumberland / F. Disslin, at 3, Rue Scribe and 66, Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III, in Paris.

All of this information set me off on a bit of detective work. Who was the first owner, and how did the clothes end up at a 1966 wedding in Amsterdam?

Dress displayed at the exhibition 'Vogue Paris, 1920-2020,' based on a painting by the Dutch artist, Piet Mondriaan. Photograph by S. Anderson.The pandemic has meant living in my sweatpants and bathrobe. Perhaps because of this, a visit to an exhibition at the Palais Galliera (officially known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris) has increased my appreciation for haute couture.

The exhibit, called Vogue Paris, 1920-2020, celebrates the centennial of the French edition of the fashion magazine Vogue. Founded by Condé Nast in 1920, Vogue Paris is the oldest French fashion magazine still in publication—and the only Vogue that includes the name of a city rather than a country.

It was fascinating to learn about the magazine’s history, especially during the Second World War. The magazine was among the first that was refused permission to publish by the German occupiers, who had searched Vogue’s offices and studio. For an article on how Vogue in England and America aided the Allied war effort, click here.

The first post-war issue, only five months after Paris was liberated, included work by Picasso and Colette. The editors of the magazine were determined to rebuild the city’s reputation as the world capital of culture, devoting thirty pages of each issue, not to fashion, but to the arts.

A few months ago the TRC was given a face mask that is hand painted with an image of a girl and an elephant in a landscape setting (TRC 2021.2484). It is signed Fabrice and has the title: "ZoZo". The face mask was made by the Dutch artist Fabrice Hünd and donated to the TRC by friends of the artist, Monica Penders and her son Jirka, who a few weeks ago also bought some hand painted Christmas tree baubles directly from the artist.

On New Year's Day we received the sad news that he had died the day before, on New Year's Eve, at the age of sixty. 

Face mask designed and hand painted by Fabrice Hünd, 2021 (TRC 2021.2484).

Collar and label for a man's jacket by the French tailoring house of Maison R. Cumberland / F. Disslin, mid-1930s (TRC 2021.3360a).This week I started researching some of the latest additions to the TRC collection (TRC 2021.3360a-c; 3361a-b; 3362; 3363). They came as a set made up of seven pieces, accredited to the tailoring house of Maison Cumberland, Paris, including two dinner jackets, two tailcoats (one morning, one dress) and one waistcoat.

They were acquired by a Dutch gentleman in the mid-1930s. The name of the owner is written on one of the labels (C.A. Wiessing). The garments are indicative of a unique cultural period that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century.

Gathering information on the Maison Cumberland has proven challenging, with many details lost through time - it’s been satisfying to find traces of its former success left behind in advertisements, postal addresses and historical literature. The popularity of British tailoring reflects the hegemony of the British Empire during its height in the 19th century, dominating popular fashion trends both across the Channel and throughout the world.

Waistcoat, Maison R. Cumberland, Paris, dated 16 May 1935 (TRC 2021.3360b). The label indicates the waistcoat was made for Mr C.A. Wiessing.Prior to this, in the 18th century, France had taken the stage as the global fashion powerhouse. However, the French Revolution gave Britain’s tailoring industry a chance to develop, fuelled by the limited contact between France and Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. This expansionist moment is well articulated in an excerpt from a speech given by Conservative MP John Wheeler to the British parliament on the 5^th of November 1987 regarding Savile Row, the traditional centre of British high class men's tailoring.

‘Given the nature of our hostile climate, tailoring has been a feature of our country for some time. We all like to wear clothes… it was the French Revolution that gave the British tailor the opportunity to lead men's fashion’.

The garments now accessed in the TRC Collection should thus be understood as a visual signifier of the influence of power seeping into fashion, the human trait of copying those who are in control and of the reach of the British Empire to places both near and far.

British tailors were also sought after due to their association with the British royal family and 'upper class' living. In this period, demand for British tailoring peaked in Paris, heralding a period of British tailoring houses opening across the city. A good example, apart from the Maison Cumberland, is the House of Worth, established in Paris in 1858 by Charles Frederick Worth.