Behind the Seams: Mounting Costumes

V&A Dundee: Can you tell us more about yourself and your work?

Nicole: Yes, my name name's Nicole Giacomantonio. I am a textile conservator and an artist, and I have a background in fine art and textile conservation. I'm at V&A Dundee, costume mounting for the Tartan exhibition and today I'm working on the Cheddar Gorgeous Ensemble by Owen Snaith. It was recently worn by Cheddar here at V&A Dundee and it's now going to take pride of place at the end of the exhibition right before the exit.

V&A Dundee: What has it been like working on this piece?

Nicole: Oh, it's been a huge challenge. It's such an interesting process, intricate in the way it goes on the mannequin, but it's so voluminous and so dynamic and it's a huge challenge, especially having it been worn by Cheddar Gorgeous, to be able to impart some of that movement, volume and dynamism into a stagnant form.

V&A Dundee: What is the day in the life of a conservator look like when mounting pieces like this?

Nicole: You start by putting the garment on the mannequin or dress form that you have and you look at the outfit or the ensemble as it is on the form and you try to imagine a body underneath it. So what you're trying to do is build a body and also undergarments to support the piece on the mannequin.

It's really sculptural and creative, and it takes a lot of problem solving. There's not necessarily any right way or any wrong way to do it. Well, I suppose there is a wrong way as you don't want to hurt the piece that you're mounting, but there's a lot of solutions, so you have to get really creative and think outside the box a lot to find ways to support the garment and make it look like a real living body is underneath it.

V&A Dundee: What has been your favourite part about these objects you've had to mount?

Nicole: There's so many beautiful pieces and so many opportunities to mount both intricate and interesting shapes that belong on bodies. Then there's also a combination of historical and the combination of 2D and 3D objects has been really interesting. I particularly love costume mounting because I love people, clothes and what we wear and why we wear and the relationship between textiles and the body.

We've had so many different kinds of shapes and forms and styles come through here. With tartan specifically, there's so many different varieties and interpretations of tartan. It's been super visually stimulating and mentally stimulating in terms of the problem solving for all the different kinds of shapes, outfits, forms and garments that we've been putting together. So I've loved all of it.

V&A Dundee: What do you think would surprise people about the costume mounting process that they might not know or something that has even surprised you?

Nicole: I feel like you have no idea what's going under those clothes or the garments. There's so many layers of skirts and padding and wadding and net, fabric, all hand-stitched, some by machine, but a lot of it assembled by hand. And it's like, truly gorgeous, stunning sculpture underneath every outfit.

I think it would be it would be nice, actually, to take all the garments off and just leave the mannequins up so people can see how much work and how much goes on underneath. It takes a lot of work to make it look like there's nothing under there.

See this object for yourself in our Tartan exhibition, open now until 14 January 2024.