One Object: Multiple Interpretations

This article develops a paper, of the same title, presented jointly by the authors at London College of Fashion's Centenary Conference in Fall 2006. It examines and explores how curatorial interventions can inform the interpretation and display of dress within the context of the museum or gallery. To do this it case-studies one garment type—the mass-produced, overall coats manufactured as part of the working uniform of Britain's Women's Land Army (WLA) during the Second World War. Initially curator and dress historian Amy de la Haye examines the processes of acquisition, object description, classification, and empirical evidence and then proposes some curatorial strategies for interpreting the coats. Then, exhibition-maker and curator Judith Clark will make suggestions as to how these garments might be further interpreted through issues of display, within the temporary space of an exhibition.