A men’s suit makes for a Cinderella story

Olivia recreated the three-piece suit using a pattern of the pieces created for an upcoming virtual exhibition.

One size does not fit all when it comes to displaying historic garments, as students and faculty in the Anne Lambert Clothing & Textile Collection know well. Yet this past semester, co-curators of the Curious Fashions, Performative Identities exhibit met a new challenge and mystery posed by including one of the oldest complete outfits in the collection. Even though it wasn’t a slipper, it still turned out to be a Cinderella story.

The exhibit, created as part of HECOL 368 - Fashion History: Interpretations & Exhibition taught by professor and curator Anne Bissonnette, explores how clothing is used to demonstrate one’s identity, such as the way that masculine identity was once displayed through vibrant and fanciful attire, and how those identities can return cyclically over generations. One of the featured items is a men’s maroon floral motif three-piece suit estimated to have been created in 1750-1765. This rare and unique garment recently underwent a textile conservation treatment thanks to donors of our Textile Conservator Endowment, but it remains fragile and requires diligent care.

The curators were eager to show off the suit, but found their existing mannequins weren’t quite fit for the task. Not only did the co-curators have to make an educated guess about the body the garment was designed for, lacking detailed provenance recording its origins and wearers, but the historic pieces required a type of body surrogate and posture that is not represented in current mannequins available commercially. Further, these old, delicate garments are at risk each time they’re handled, leaving little room for trial and error to pad a mannequin to get a good fit. It was a worthy endeavor, but not an easy one.

In comes Clothing, Textiles & Material Culture undergraduate student Olivia Nash, who took an interest in the suit during the semester and applied for a Roger S. Smith award to research it further over the summer to try to understand what kind of body wore the suit. If the garment could be considered fated for the collection, Olivia was fated to be there for it that summer. Her research supervisor, professor and curator Anne Bissonnette, recognized how Olivia was well suited for this type of research. With a previous degree in costume design from Old’s College and experience in 3D printing technologies, she was well qualified to follow her own curiosity for this exceptional and complex ensemble.

The search for a suitable mid 18th-century body surrogate resulted in a three-step process – any of which, as Olivia discovered, could have been a summer-long project on its own. She first crafted a replica of the suit, including a coat, waistcoat and breeches to be worn for fittings, using a pattern of the pieces created for an upcoming virtual exhibition on the evolution of menswear. Despite advanced research, including reviewing portraits and reading personal accounts from the time, Olivia found the recreation process quite difficult. She used a far less valuable material than the maroon and gold silk velvet of the original suit. She also lacked the hand-stitching technique of 18th-century tailors. Nonetheless, she gained knowledge about each item as she attempted to recreate them.

Once she had a passable replica, the suit needed to find its “Cinderella,” a wearer who would fit the dimensions of the original suit. There were some clues in the design of the garment, but it was still difficult to predict who to search for. This is because of the diversity in body shapes then and now, even before accounting for differences in age and postures. The call for study participants would not be straightforward. She needed someone willing to try on the garments in what might be period-appropriate poses who would also be willing to have their body digitally scanned. In a fairy godmother-like coincidence, Olivia knew not one, but two men with frames deemed appropriate for the garments who were willing to step in. Better yet, they were related, so that she could compare for age variance. After providing both participants with precise instructions about appropriate 18th century posture, she was satisfied seeing the fit on the younger model, but the garments sat best on the older subject. Olivia described it as coming to life, thinking, “that’s how it was supposed to be worn.”

The participants brought the garments to life in period-appropriate poses.

She had mounted the suit once for her class exhibition using a commercially available mannequin for historic garments, but she took her new knowledge back to the drawing board later in the summer to consider how she could do it again in a way that was safer for the garments and more accurate. She researched a variety of options from traditional neutral materials to advanced possibilities afforded by large 3D printers. While the latter seemed ideal to best match the dimensions obtained via scanning from her models, it was beyond the capabilities of the technology and funding available. Due to limitations in resources and time, she couldn’t test what she theorized would work best.

Despite her clear determination for answers, Olivia is comfortable with the figurative loose threads of the project.

“Research is never a waste,” she explains, “You learn something no matter the outcome, and the conversation continues.” Continue on it does for Olivia, who is committed to her newfound passion for museum studies and is considering graduate studies. As for the garment, the results of her work and all that’s left to study will remain for the next researcher who wants to try it on for size.

Interested in learning more about the suit? Find it in the University of Alberta Museums under ascension number 1995.1.1abc.

Thank you to the donors to the Textile Conservator Endowment Fund and Historic Costume & Textile Collection Fund for supporting the Anne Lambert Clothing & Textile Collection, making it a teaching and research resource for impactful projects like this. We’d also like to thank the donor of the three-piece suit, Ms. D. Colvin-MacDormand.