My name is Saadia Khan. I am based at LCF (London College of Fashion) Archives as an Assistant Archivist. I am working with my colleagues Chloe Gilbert, Archives and Curatorial Assistant, and Susanna Cordner, Archives Manager.
LCF Archives moved from John Princes Street in 2023 to our purpose-built stores located at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s East Bank. Now, I am contributing with others to cataloguing projects to make our collections more accessible to UAL students and researchers. I am cataloguing our garment collections.
Currently, LCF Archives has collection descriptions, available on UAL’s website. I am creating an in-depth item-based catalogue of our garments, using TMS (The Museum System). TMS allows us to record intricate details about objects. The catalogue will provide the foundation for future work to describe garments in more detail. Cataloguing offers an opportunity to study the collections. It also helps when retrieving objects to support enquiries.
Collections inventory
Before cataloguing, I created a collections inventory of LCF’s garments. To do this, I began by using historic accession records and legacy records relating to the donors of garment collections. I worked with colleagues, including Elisabeth Thurlow (Digital Preservation and Access Manager and interim cover for Susanna at LCF) to discuss possible categories of clothing within the inventory.
Three overarching categories appeared: womenswear, childrenswear and menswear. I then cross checked my draft inventory against the actual garments. This was to check for any anomalies or for any further collections accessioned. In this process I documented smaller collections including Hilary Leeks, Joy Wilkes and Beryl Ferguson archives.
Commencing cataloguing
Once I completed a collections inventory, I began cataloguing our childrenswear collection. Overall, we had over 42 garments within childrenswear. This was a relatively small category, suitable to use as a pilot. The collection holds some wonderful items.
One example was a dress from the Hester Borron archive. It was home made by Hester’s mother Eileen Eldon, in the early 1940’s. It was made from fabric which came from Hester’s brother’s cot. Due to clothes rationing implemented during the Second World War, the re-use of household furnishings to construct clothing, was common practice as part of the governments "Make Do and Mend" initiative. This was an interesting insight into how families continued traditions, despite the ramifications of the war.
In addition, I identified two girl’s dresses, shown in the pictures. You may notice the distinctive collar. This was called a “Peter Pan collar” and began to be used in the tailoring process of children’s wear in the 1920’s. It was inspired by the Rowe of Bond Street retailers, a retailer known for setting the standard for children’s wear who inspired many at the time to adopt similar designs.
Next steps
I have completed cataloguing the childrenswear collection. I am now moving onto our womenswear and menswear. As demonstrated through the images above, I will study the collections, as well as catalogue them. It will be beneficial to record the provenance and process of creating such beautiful garments.
Keep a look out on our Padlet page, where I will be posting behind the scenes content about interesting finds I locate along the way.
Find out more
To find out more about LCF Archives, please visit the webpages or contact us at archives@fashion.arts.ac.uk