2014 In Review

There are many things I could write about 2014, but there are few that could be more simply put or more satisfying than this:

These are all the wire hangers that were removed from collections storage in 2014. This pile represents hundreds of garments which are now on better hangers or stored in boxes because of work done this year by me and my incredible team of volunteers.

So here's to all the accomplishments of 2014, and may 2015 be filled with many new and fulfilling endeavors.

Cheers!

Hanger House of Horrors

Starting today the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) conference is in town. Woo hoo! Can't wait to start re-imagining visitor encounters with objects and debate the risks and rewards of animating the collection through innovative visitor experiences!!!

(YES the museum field does have its own version of corporate jargon. Hopefully I'll be like:

And less:

)

On Monday night MOHAI is throwing a party and a few departments are going to be stationed at tables, showing off some of our work and talking about what we do. Betsy and I volunteered to do the collections one. She is going to set up a little pest identification station (can YOU tell the difference between a carpet beetle and a millipede?) and I'm going to have an assortment of padded hangers to talk about. I also thought it would be fun to print out pictures of the WORST hangers that I've discovered while going through the collection.

So for your enjoyment I present the MOHAI Hanger House of Horrors

For starters, there are lots of wire hangers in the collection and they are still deeply upsetting.

Here we have the added bonus of terrible acidic paper cover from the dry cleaner and a skirt attached with a safety pin.

Then there are the weird old "padded" hangers 

What could possibly be better for a historic garment than a wood hanger covered in a thin layer of purple acrylic yarn? Make sure to randomly tie a bow on one side for no reason at all!!

Then there are hangers with those terrible rubberized grip things. Here someone thought enough to wrap acid-free tissue around the hanger:

But seeing what the hanger started doing to the paper just makes me shudder to think about what that hanger would have done to the garment if someone hadn't thought to wrap the hanger. WHY WAS THIS TOXIC THING ALLOWED TO EVEN BE IN THE SAME ROOM WITH THE COLLECTION???

Things get really interesting though during bad idea craft time.

This is a hanger padded with acid-free tissue (not terrible) and then secured with large swaths of masking tape (ooooh swing and a miss). 

When fully unwrapped and dissected, this turned out to be a metal hanger wrapped in a black T-shirt, wrapped in twine. Not the worst thing you could do, but….why??

Here is another creative padded approach:

This is a hanger wrapped in bubble wrap, covered with an unwashed scrap of muslin which has been secured with straight pins. 

And finally, the one that legitimately makes my blood boil, this "helpful" attempt to put notches in a straight hanger:

If you can't tell, that is one very rough, sharp edge on which to hang something. Most of the above have been one-offs, but I have found lots of these. And what are they used for? Why, to hang sleeveless silk dresses of course! What a brilliant idea to rest a soft, fragile silk strap against a sharp edge!! Even better if it is a heavy dress! What could possibly go wrong??? Last week I had 1920s dress with chiffon straps (yes chiffon) basically fall apart in my hands as I tried to move it off one of these hangers. 

THE HORROR

The Daily Tragedy and Comedy of Artifact Care

Here, in three photos, is a short but gripping tale. Starring: a Padded Hanger.

Anger. Emptiness. Sorrow

But lo! A padded hanger with padded volara clips!

BLISS

The Great Dictator

This week I raised an army...

an army of ROLLING RACKS

and PADDED HANGERS

...by harnessing the raw power of VOLUNTEER LABOR!

MUA HA HA HA HA HA

Yes, apparently my plan for world domination involves supporting the shoulders of historic garments and then carting them around on wheels. 

Other news that might interest devoted readers:

-- I gained new respect this week for New Day Northwest-- the local morning cheesefest which MOHAI was featured on recently. Olivia and I have been watching the latest season of RuPaul's Drag Race and have fallen in love with Seattle-based queen Jinkx Monsoon. Apparently the same week I was helping haul the Sonics trophy to the studio, Jinkx made an appearance to promote her starring role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Cool stuff NDNW. I guess there is more to you than strange fashion advice and free country music CDs. 

-- My upcoming John Doyle Bishop event has been getting some actual (local) press. Read about it here and here. 

-- Last Sunday MOHAI had an Oscar party and I was asked to provide commentary during the red carpet pre-show. I teamed with my fantastic friend Curt to provide charming banter about the history of fashion at the Oscars. The insider sources who attended the event (my parents) said we did a good job, but more importantly we looked fabulous doing it. I wore a purple dress that I found at a church yard sale in New York, and Curt looked dapper in a suit with a tie that matched my dress. My greatest regret in life right now is that no one took a picture. 

Amazingly, I found a picture on the internet that was pretty close: 

Not sure who these people are, but they are doing a pretty good job of being nearly as stunning as Curt and I.