A Tailor’s workshop in Leiden in 1626
What?
Textile exhibition in the Leids Wevershuis
My roll?
Co-guest curator
When?
2020-2023
History is about real people, and you can’t get much closer to a person than their clothes. It is everyday and it’s sensory, so you can reach a broad audience. Besides, clothing is interlaced with all kinds of social themes, like politics, economics, technology, gender norms, culture, and religion. That’s why I’ve always been fascinated by historical clothing. When I wanted to broaden my knowledge about 17th century wear, I met up with Leiden-based dress historian Geeske Kruserman. This quickly led to a collaboration, in which I joined Geeskes exhibition: A Tailor’s Workshop in Leiden in 1626.
What set the exhibition apart from many other textile installations was that people were allowed to touch certain items, and sometimes even try on the clothing. This was because we made replicas of “real clothes from real people”. We also curated artworks in which “regular” clothing from this era was presented. Portraying everyday clothing was not uncommon at the time, like in the portrait of Aletta Hanemans by Frans Hals, or in Ice Sports by Hendrick Avercamp. However, many people aren’t aware of this.
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A man's workwear
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Down to the smallest detail
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Garments to try on yourself
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The tailor
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Publication and guestbook
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Our showpiece: ‘vlieger’ costume of the married Dutchwomen
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Accessories that really matter
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From underwear to outerwear
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Costume attic for our smallest visitors
‘History is about real people, and you can’t get much closer to a person than their clothes.’
We created guided tours, in which we showed participants how to look at these works through a new lens, while they could also touch the clothes and see how they were made. With this in mind, we also made a guided tour for blind or visually impaired visitors, because the focus of this exhibition was not just on sight, but also on touch.
The exhibitions and the guided tours were a great success, both on paper and in reality. Within six months, we attracted twice the number of visitors the museum usually gets on an annual basis. But the best part was the social aspect: the museum became a hub for like-minded people and textile-enthusiasts. This has always been one of my primary goals: to connect people..