Dress, late 1920s-early 1930s
Client
FIT Graduate Studies Collection
Goal of treatment
To improve flexibility, to reverse alterations, to stabilize tears, and to reconstruct the lining, in order to facilitate the garment’s display on a mannequin in a future exhibition
Summary of treatment
This silk chiffon, tea-length dress was treated in anticipation of its inclusion in the exhibition Max Meyer and A. Beller & Co.: Interpreting a Hidden History of NYC's Garment District. The dress displayed substantial soiling, previous failing repairs, several tears throughout the delicate chiffon fabric, and only small areas of the original silk lining remained. The previous repairs were removed and the dress was wet cleaned.
The tears in the floral chiffon were stabilized with patches of silk crepeline. These were adhered with a 15% concentration of Lascaux 303:498::1:2 in water, activated with acetone.
Because the lining was an integral part of the dress's aesthetic, a new fabric was custom dyed and a pattern was drafted to replace this inner layer, using a very similar dress from the same era as a pattern reference.
