The TRC’s latest exhibition (on until the end of December 2022) explores how African, Asian and European textiles and dress have influenced each other. But their influences also extend to North America, as the following example illustrates.

The large tract of land now known as Louisiana (USA) was a French colony, officially until 1803 (the socalled Louisiana Purchase when the remaining French parts of Louisiana were ceded to the Americans). Louisiana included the busy port city of New Orleans, built in large part by enslaved labour. But New Orleans also had a population of between 400 to 800 gens de couleur libres, or free people of African descent. These free blacks spoke French and called themselves Creoles.

Painting of Creole woman in tignon, with lace collar and jewellery. From the Historic New Orleans Collection.For part of the 18th century, much of Louisiana was controlled by the Spanish. During that time, the Creole population doubled. Creole women had a reputation for beauty and for dressing elegantly. They worked as seamstresses and laundresses, kept taverns and boarding houses; wore European fashion and decorated their hair with feathers and jewels.

Louisiana’s Spanish Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró was disturbed by reports of Creole women’s ‘haughty’ manners, their ‘excessive attention to dress’, and the many relationships between white men and Creole women.

In 1786 he enacted the tignon law: every free black woman in New Orleans now had to cover her hair with a scarf or handkerchief (called tignon, probably after the French word chignon, or hairstyle) in public, just like an enslaved woman. Hair could no longer be elaborately curled or decorated with feathers or jewellery. The law sought to remind Creole women of their “inferior” status.

You can tell the summer holidays are over! All sorts of things are happening at the TRC.

New films

TRC intern Kelly Wong, for example, has made four short films about volunteers at TRC - what they like about their work and their favourite (currently) items from the TRC Collection. The main problem being there are so many items to choose from and with new pieces coming in on a regular basis it can be very hard to choose a favourite! These and other TRC films can be seen at the TRC YouTube channel. You can also click on the individual thumbnails below.

Rekindle your passion / Meet our volunteersLearning by doing / Meet our volunteers

Your favourite project that you have worked on? Ask the volunteers Your favourite item in the TRC collection? Ask the volunteers

September 2022

• Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW, Leiden
• klik This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  klik website
• +31 (0)71-5134144
• +31 (0)6-28830428.

Een recente aanwinst voor de TRC collectie: Kleine geborduurde icoon van koningin Tamar van Georgië die een kerk vasthoudt. Georgië, begin 21e eeuw (TRC 2022.2250b).De vakanties zijn bijna voorbij, en we hopen u binnenkort weer bij het TRC te mogen verwelkomen. Ondertussen zijn we op maandag 22 augustus al begonnen met de TRC Intensieve Textielcursus. Deelnemers uit alle windstreken worden ingeleid in de fascinerende wereld van textiel.

De eerste bijeenkomst waar we iedereen die wil komen willen ontmoeten is op zondagmiddag 28 augustus, van drie tot vijf. AJ Salter, een van onze vrijwilligers, zal kort iets vertellen over een heel opvalled kledingstuk uit Albanië, dat heel lang geleden nog is gefotografeerd door Aard den Doolard, de schrijver van De Herberg met het Hoefijzer (zie de foto hieronder).

U kunt zondagmiddag ook kijken naar de tentoonstelling in opbouw, over Aziatische/Afrikaanse/Europese invloeden op kleding en textiel, die op 12 september wordt geopend.

Vrienden van het TRC

Het TRC werkt op projectbasis en met financiële donaties uit officiële, commerciële en particuliere bronnen. De financiering wordt gebruikt voor speciale projecten, het in stand houden van de collectie, het opzetten van tentoonstellingen en algemene lopende kosten. Door de jaren heen hebben we veel Vrienden gehad die het werk van het TRC ondersteunen met donaties, zowel financieel als materiaal voor de collectie. Voor het Vrienden van het TRC-programma, klik hier.

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Bankbiljet van textiel, geproduceerd in 1921 door de Stadtsparkasse Bielefeld voor de som van 100 mark (TRC 2022.2252).Meest recente blogs

Denkt u eraan om regelmatig even te kijken naar de nieuwste blogs op de TRC webpagina's? Of laat het ons weten als u automatisch bericht wilt ontvange als er weer een nieuwe blog is verschenen. Hieronder geven we een lijstje met wat er tot nu toe in augustus is verschenen.

• 24 aug: Hidden power of Indonesian ikats - Links with the afterlife
• 21 aug: Asia, Africa, and the Jansen Holland wax textiles from Helmond
• 19 aug: A 'silk' evasion map from WWII Burma
• 9 aug: Polish cochineal red and St John's Wort
• 8 aug: International Cat Day
• 7 aug: On the touchabiity of museum objects
• 5 aug: About Polish cochineal
• 4 aug: Colourful Leheria resist-dyed cloth from Rajasthan, India
• 3 aug: An Albanian fustanella and pompoms in Greece
• 1 aug: Kerchiefs, flags, and protests

Donaties

Het TRC wordt geheel verzorgd door vrijwilligers. Steun ons door een bedrag naar keuze over te maken via onderstaande iDEAL knop: Doneer nu door een bepaald bedrag in te vullen! TRC is een erkende Culturele ANBI, waardoor uw gift, als u in Nederland belasting betaalt, tot 125% fiscaal aftrekbaar is.

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Agenda

 Zondagmiddag-lezing, 28 augustus: De Xhubleta Rok Uit Albanië.

Twee Albanese vrouwen met hun klokvormige xhubleta rok/lijfje, jaren '30. Foto genomen door Aard den Doolaard, pseudoniem voor Bob Spoelstra en de auteur van 'De Herberg met het Hoefijzer' (1933). De foto heeft het onderschrift: "16-jarige Malissoren-bruid met haar moeder."Het TRC hoopt u zondagmiddag 28 augustus vanaf 15.00 uur te mogen begroeten en samen te luisteren naar een informele lezing door AJ Salter, stagiaire TRC en Masterstudent aan de Universiteit Leiden (zie een blog over haar MA-scriptie).

Ze zal praten over een heel typische, lange rok/lijfje uit Albanië met een rijke geschiedenis, dat bijna negentig jaar geleden de aandacht trok van Aard den Doolaard, de schrijver van De Herberg met het Hoefijzer. Het TRC heeft een aantal exemplaren van de xhubleta in de collectie, en die zullen ook worden getoond.

Na de lezing van AJ is er volop gelegenheid voor een gespek met haar en de andere bezoekers, onder het genot van koffie/thee of andere verfrissingen. U kunt dan ook de nieuwe galerij-tentoonstelling zien!

Datum: 28 augustus. Tijd: 15.00 - 17.30 uur (de lezing is vanaf ongeveer 15.30 uur, en wordt gegeven in het Engels). Toegang is gratis. Locatie: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW Leiden. Het wordt op prijs gesteld als u ons even laat weten of u erbij wilt zijn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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Workshop woensdag 7 september; Wat Is Borduurwerk?

Borduurwerk is een oude en gevarieerde traditie voor de versiering van kleding en ander textiel rond het huis en in openbare gebouwen. Er zijn vele vormen van borduurwerk, letterlijk honderden, van de kettingsteek-voorbeelden in het graf van Toetankhamoen (gestorven ca. 1323 v.Chr.) tot de dubbelzijdige borduurwerken van Han China rond het begin van onze jaartelling.

Geborduurd zwart katoenen lapje met verschillende onderling verbonden geometrische vormen en toegepaste stukjes glas. Fabrieksgeweven handborduurwerk (India, eind 20ste eeuw, TRC 2019.0286).

Tijdens de workshop worden de belangrijkste technieken besproken, maar ook kijken we naar de verschillende hulpmiddelen en de materialen die worden gebruikt tijdens het borduren. Natuurlijk gaan we ook zelf aan de slag.

Gedurende de workshop zullen voorbeelden uit de uitgebreide collectie van het TRC van over de hele wereld worden onderzocht om te zien hoe mannen en vrouwen door de eeuwen heen deze decoratieve vorm van handwerk hebben gemaakt en gebruikt.

De workshop wordt geleid door Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, een specialist op het gebied van borduurgeschiedenis en auteur van de serie Encyclopedia of Embroidery from ..... (Londen: Bloomsbury 2016ff.).

Datum: woensdag 7 september 2022. Tijd: 10.00 - 13.00 uur. Lokatie: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, Nederland. Docent: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood. Taal: Nederlands/Engels. Kosten: 35 euro (te betalen op de dag zelf). Materialen / koffie / thee worden verstrekt. Max. aantal deelnemers: 10. Meldt u zich alstublieft tevoren aan: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Vanaf donderdag 8 september: TRC cursus Stropkant Maken

Stropkant, in het Engels torchon lace or beggar's lace, is een van de meest voorkomende vormen van kloskant, en misschien ook wel de eenvoudigste. Basis en motieven worden tegelijkertijd gemaakt, oorspronkelijk in stroken van 2,5 tot 5 cm breed, maar tegenwoordig in verschillende maten.

De cursus wordt gegeven in twee series van elk drie bijeenkomsten. U kunt deelnemen aan alle zes de lessen, of éen van de twee. Als u alleen wilt deelnemen aan de tweede serie, verwachten wij dat u de basisbeginselen van stropkantmaken onder de knie hebt.

Voorbeeld van stropkant.

De cursus wordt gegeven door Gon Homburg. Ze leerde kantklossen van haar moeder en vanaf 1983 staat ze officieel ingeschreven als lerares kantklossen. Ze geeft les aan liefhebbers en geeft workshops aan verschillende opleidingen, waaronder het TRC.

• Eerste reeks: 8 september; 29 september; 20 oktober.
• Tweede reeks: 10 november; 1 dec; 15 dec.

Plaats: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden. Docent: Gon Homburg. Taal: Nederlands. Kosten: 35 euro per donderdag (te betalen op de dag zelf). Voor materiaal/koffie/thee wordt gezorgd. Maximaal aantal deelnemers: 10. Graag tevoren aanmelden voor drie of zes lessen: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Handgemaakt, resist-geverfd hemd uit Ghana, 20ste eeuw (TRC 2010.0330).Dinsdag 20 sept 11.00-12.00: Lezing over West-Afrikaans batik, door Addoley Dzegede

Batik is een soort resist-geverfde stof die vooral bekend is uit Indonesië (batik). Het wordt echter ook op grote schaal geproduceerd en gedragen in West-Afrika, en een machinaal geproduceerde versie werd in de negentiende eeuw in West-Afrika geïntroduceerd door Europese bedrijven, vooral uit Nederland, zoals door de Vlisco in Helmond.

Addoley Dzegede, een Ghanees-Amerikaanse kunstenaar en Fulbright-winnaar nu in Nederland, zal vertellen wat ze heeft geleerd over West-Afrikaanse batik tijdens een verblijf bij Osei Duro (in een atelier voor handgeverfde kleding in Accra) in 2019, en de manieren bespreken waarop zij gebruik maakt van batiktechnieken in haar kunstwerken, die vaak geïnspireerd zijn door de geschiedenis van Nederlandse wasdrukken.

Datum: dinsdag 20 sept. Tijd: 11.00 - 12.00 uur. Taal: Engels. Lokatie: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW Leiden. Entree is gratis. Het wordt op prijs gesteld als u ons laat weten of u erbij wilt zijn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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Handgemaakt, resist-geverfd shirt uit Ghana, 20ste eeuw (TRC 2010.0330).Dinsdag 20 sept 13.00-16.00: Workshop West-Afrikaans batik

(wordt herhaald op woensdag 21 september, 14.00-17.00)

Batik is een soort resist-geverfde stof die vooral bekend is uit Indonesië (batik). Het wordt echter ook op grote schaal geproduceerd en gedragen in West-Afrika, en de machinaal geproduceerde versie werd in de negentiende eeuw in West-Afrika geïntroduceerd door Europese bedrijven, zoals Vlisco in Nederland.

De workshop wordt gegeven door Addoley Dzegede, die ook de llezing geeft in de ochtend. In deze interactieve workshop zal Addoley Dzegede batiktechnieken demonstreren die ze in Ghana heeft geleerd met behulp van gesneden schuim en gesneden houten stempels om repeterende patronen op katoen te creëren.

Datum: dinsdag 20 sept. Tijd: 13.00 - 16.00 uur, en woensdaag 21 sept. van 14.00-17.00 uur. Taal: Engels. Lokatie: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HW Leiden. Maximaal aantal deelnemers: 10. Kosten: 35 euro. Het wordt op prijs gesteld als u ons van tevoren laat weten of u erbij wilt zijn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

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Voorbeeld van modern passement.Woensdag 21 sept 10.00-13.00: Workshop, 16de en 17de eeuws passement.

Wambuizen, broeken en andere kledingstukken werden in de 16de en17de eeeuw vaak versierd en verstevigd met vele meters passement: smalle bandjes van zijde of wol, geweven of gevlochten. Tijdens deze workshop maken we kennis met de verschillende weef- en vlechttechnieken en maken we kleine voorbeeldjes van passement.

Deelnemers hoeven in principe niets mee te nemen, maar wie kaartweefkaartjes en/of een bandweefraampje heeft, mag die uiteraard meebrengen.

Deze woensdagochtend-workshop wordt gegeven door Dorothee Olthof, een deskundige op het gebied van archeologisch textiel en de reconstructie van middeleeuws en later textiel.

Datum: woensdag 21 september 2022. Tijd: 010.00 - 13.00 uur. Lokatie: TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2351 HW Leiden, Nederland. Docent: Dorothee Olthof. Taal: Nederlands. Kosten: 35 euro (te betalen bij start bijeenkomst). Materiaal / koffie / thee worden verstrekt. Max. aantal deelnemers: 10. Graag tevoren aanmelden: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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TRC Boekenmarkt, zaterdag 8 oktober

Op zaterdag 8 oktober organiseert het TRC een markt van tweedehands textiel- en kledingboeken. Een breed scala aan boeken (van technische tot historische onderwerpen) worden verkocht tegen sterk gereduceerde prijzen. Het TRC is geopend van 10.00 tot 15.00 uur.

Bezoekers krijgen ook de kans om de nieuwe tentoonstelling van het TRC te zien over de Aziatisch-Afrikaans-Europese handel in en invloeden op textiel en kleding. 

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TRC Intensieve Textiel Cursus. Volgende editie: 10-14 oktober

Deze cursus wordt sinds vele jaren gegeven door dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood en trekt belangstellenden uit de hele wereld. De cursus combineert theorie met praktijk, met een nadruk op het uitproberen van verschillende technieken zoals spinnen, weven en verven, het onderzoeken en analyseren van organische en niet-organische vezels, en het bestuderen van complete stoffen.

De meest recente bespreking van de cursus is geschreven door Monica Chen from Heidelberg, die deelnam aan de april 2022 cursus.

Voor de rest van 2022 en in 2023 wordt de cursus gegeven op de volgende data: 10-14 oktober, 21-25 november. In 2023 gelden de volgende data: 20-24 febr; 24-28 april; 19-23 juni; 21-25 aug; 23-27 okt.

The TRC has recently been given a group of batiks and ikats, most of them from Indonesia. They were collected by textile designer and artist, Miep Spée, who now lives in the small village of Noord-Beemster, in the north of the Netherlands. Miep Spée worked in Indonesia in the late 1970s and early 1980s and focussed on the production of batik. In doing so she visited and worked in various batik factories and ateliers.

A Javanese batik from c. 1980 decorated with a repeating geometric pattern (TRC 2022.2020).

Among the various textiles that she acquired is a Javanese batik (TRC 2022.2020) that looked, at first glance, like a jumble of small geometric forms and did not seem quite right. And yet the colours, dark blue, brown and off-white, were very similar to the other Javanese textiles in the Spée collection.

Block of an Indonesian batik cloth (TRC 2022.2020). Drawing by Martin Hense.On a second and third look I could identify the main elements of a block, namely a central square formed by triangles, and surrounded by a framework of rectangles and squares, it was the possible to find the repeats of the block, which were used to cover the ground material.

To my surprise it would appear that the pattern is comparable to an American quilt, with the top made up of blocks with rectangular/square sashing (framework). This is a ‘classic’ quilt form, called a pin-wheel.

This raises various questions for me. If this identification is correct, is the batik ‘block’ pattern an example of a separate and independently developed tradition? Or does it represent an American influence on one sector of the Indonesian batik market and this particular textile was perhaps intended for the tourist market? It could also be argued that this is an example of cultural appropriation by an Indonesian group.

Series of blocks for a mid-20th century American quilt (TRC 2017.4040).

But it would seem much more likely that it is yet another example of the ‘adopt and adapt’ system of design transfer that has been going on for thousands of years throughout the world. In this case an American quilt block pattern was seen (adopted) and adapted for the batik market of Java.

The textiles donated by Miep Spée will be added to the TRC Collection over the next few weeks and I am sure that there will be other interesting surprises and discoveries during the course of the work.

Gillian Vogelsang, 17 July 2022

The last few days we have been busy visiting various museums and cathedrals in northern France as part of the TRC’s work for volume 4 of Bloomsbury’s World Encyclopedia of Embroidery, namely, Scandinavian and Western European embroidery. Part of the trip, it should be added, has been financially supported by a travel grant from DutchCulture (Amsterdam).

Willem looking at one of the four embroidered wall hangings (photograph author).

The first day, after an early drive from Leiden, was spent in Reims to see the famous mid-17th century series of four embroidered wall-hangings that are now in the Palais du Tau. The building itself is the former palace of the archbishop of Reims (built in the shape of the Greek 't', hence the name) and is associated with the kings of France whose coronations took place in the adjoining cathedral, which was sadly almost completely destroyed during the First World War, but has since been magnificently rebuilt.

Detail of one of the embroidered wall hangings in the Musée du Tau, Reims (Photograph author).

The Palais houses some fantastic woven tapestries, but we were especially attracted by the four embroidered wall hangings, which each measure some three by four metres. They are of the type often called needle paintings, but unlike others they are worked in free-style form.

Embroidered outfit of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, for the coronation of his father, Charles X (photograph author).The wall hangings have a common theme, namely "The Song of Songs” (Le cantique des cantiques) and include: The Union of the Bride and Groom; The Bride meets the Groom at the Entrance to the Garden; The Bride in the Garden of the Beloved, and The Beloved with the Bride in the Garden.

The hangings were ordered by Marguerite Gomyn, widow of Pierre Dufour, on the marriage of one or more of their sons between 1645-1655. The embroideries were probably carried out by specialist embroiderers in a convent. The ground is made of linen that is totally covered with filling stitch, with some couched gold thread (passing), using woollen yarns in a variety of colours. Spectacular!! These items will certainly feature in the Encyclopedia.

Blue plaque commemorating Charles X of France, who lived in exile at 72 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London, between 1805 and 1814 (photograph Wikipedia).Also on display in the Palais du Tau were various densely and luxuriously embroidered garments linked to the coronation of Charles X in 1825. Charles X, it may be added, was King of France from 1825 and 1830. He was the younger brother of Louis XVI (who was executed in 1793) and Louis XVIII. Very intriguing were the elaborately decorated garments worn at the coronation by his eldest son, the Dauphin (Louis Antoine de Bourbon, 1775-1844).

Something else we noticed at the entrance to Reims cathedral were sculptured, hanging curtains, which we couldn't help comparing to painted curtains that we saw in the Sistine Chapel in Rome (see an earlier blog) and, of all places, in Assen in the northeast of the Netherlands (see blog).

Sunday afternoon, after our visit to Reims, we drove on to Sens, southeast of Paris, to see the relics of Thomas Becket, but that is for the next blog.

Sculptured, draped curtains at the entrance to Reims cathedral (photograph Willem Vogelsang).

Gillian Vogelsang, 5 July 2022

For more information about the Reims tapestries and embroidered wall hangings, an open access PdF file can be downloaded here.

A Khevsureti man’s tunic (mid-20th century; TRC 2022.1090)Among the many items that arrived from Arizona earlier this year there are a number of garments from the Caucasian republic of Georgia. I must admit I knew very little about this ancient country and I am having an interesting time learning more and more in order to put the textiles into context.

Earlier this year, Erica Prus already wrote a blog about the fascinating Svaneti hats from Georgia which were acquired by the TRC some years ago.

The garments now added to the TRC collection include men’s tunics (including TRC 2022.1089 and TRC 2022.1090) and women’s dresses and jackets (including TRC 2022.1088 and TRC 2022.1091), from the isolated region of Khevsureti, in the northeast of Georgia.

A Khevsureti man’s tunic (mid-20th century; TRC 2022.1089)The region includes various small villages including Ertso-Tjaneti, Khevi and Kakheti. It is the latter that is particularly known for its embroidered garments. The Khevsureti clothes were traditionally made from locally spun and woven woollen cloth called toil, which is usually a dark brown or black in colour.

One of the embroidered items (TRC 2022.1088) is a man’s tunic called a chokha that is decorated with a large panel on the front with a side-opening. The designs are geometric in shape, and predominantly dark red in colour.

On the shoulders, back, sleeves and hems there are lines of appliqué, again in a series of geometric shapes based on squares and triangles. 

A Khevsureti woman’s dress (mid-20th century, TRC 2022.1091).

Also among the Arizona collection are several women’s garments from Khevsureti. A complete outfit is known as a talavari and is made up of a headdress, dress (sadiatso) and jacket.

According to one account the front opening was meant to be kept fastened until childbirth, then it could be opened in order to breast feed.

During a period of mourning the garment was turned inside out so that the embroidery and applied decoration was no longer visible.

The main embroidery is around the neck opening, sleeve cuffs and near the hem. The hem border is made up of strips of coloured cloth (including black, red, dark red and green) that are sewn together. The embroidery includes cross stitch, surface couching and a form of diagonal couching.

Detail of Khevsureti woman’s dress (mid-20th century, TRC 2022.1091)The jacket worn with such garments is decorated on the front and back with applied blocks of white and red cloth, while the back is further decorated with a large panel of appliqué and embroidery (including cross stitch, zig-zag stitch, and surface couching).

All of the Georgian women's garments in the TRC collection are furthermore decorated with Soviet-period coins.

We are now working on some embroidery charts based on the various cross stitch panels mentioned in this blog. We would also love to have more textiles and garments from Georgia, to complement the small collecton we now have and to make this intriguing embroidery tradition more well-known.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 14 May 2022

Detail of a Khevsureti woman’s jacket (mid-20th century, TRC 2022.1088)

We have just had a visitor to the TRC who paid great attention to the TRC’s pop-up exhibition, which is based on items from two recent donations. Most of the new garments (altogether some 1700) derive from southeastern Europe and the Caucasus. His (yes, HIS) main comment was how boring Western clothing has become for men. And I would add, for both men and women. There is a general lack of colour, texture, movement (a few swirls to add dimension), decoration on the BACK as well as the front, and all in all that extra bit of oomph.

Embroidered man's wedding shirt from Mezokovesd, Hungary, mid-20th century (TRC 2022.0198).

He was looking at some men’s garments including an embroidered shirt, short jacket with tassels and a brightly coloured sash. Not difficult to put all the items together, but oh what a change from a t-shirt with jeans. A man’s embroidered wedding shirt with very large sleeves (literally a shirt you cannot work in), left him thinking hard! And perhaps even dreaming of walking through Leiden swinging his arms and sleeves.

Someone has asked for the return of the waistcoat as an everyday item of clothing – again for both men and women, because you can do so much with one! Materials, a fine satin or velvet, or a heavy woollen cloth! Embroidered, appliquéd, with passementerie? Long or short, with a collar, fringe or rounded neckline. Perhaps a single row of buttons, or double breasted?

Woman's festive waistcoat from Kalocza, Hungary, mid-20th century (TRC 2022.0449).

The various TRC volunteers and visitors have different favourites. One, for example, has fallen in love with a kalocsa outfit from Hungary. It has bright, happy flowers on a white ground in connection with cutwork lace and this decoration certainly makes a statement. Another volunteer is taken by the long black dresses from Georgia in the Caucasus, with its closely and minutely embroidered chest panel. Others find the Romanian embroidered blouses irresistible. Yet another volunteer fell in love with a heavy, black velvet belt from Albania.

Black velvet belt with beading, passementerie, embroidery, and applied ornate buckle, from the Xhubleta region, Albania, mid-20th century (TRC 2022.1028).

My own favourite? Hmmmm, just to walk around in, I would go for an embroidered blouse; just to look at, then it must be a gold embroidered waistcoat.

Embroidered woman's blouse from Humor, Romania, mid-20th century (TRC 2022.0687).

What I am certain about is that vol. 5 of the Bloomsbury World Encyclopedia of Embroidery, which is about Central and Southeast European, Russian and Caucasian embroidery is going to be very different from what I had envisaged a few years ago. I knew there was a wide variety in embroidery forms in this part of the world, but I had never imagined the diversity, detail, complexity and colour combinations that existed and can be examined as a result of these two donations.

And shortly we will be picking up another donation of garments, this time from former Yugoslavia, so adding even more details to Volume 5!

The pop-up exhibition will be on display until the end of May 2022. A film about the exhibition will come online this week. More details to come.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director, 27 April 2022

Pair of knickerbockers, or breeches, the Netherlands, early 21st century (TRC 2020.0888).Perhaps a somewhat dubious subject, but a few days ago I asked my (British) wife about the origins of the word ‘ knickers’. I knew that knickers in Britain are generally referred to as ‘panties’ in American English, but where did the word knickers come from?

My wife suggested that the word ‘knickers’ was related to ‘knickerbockers’. Why not? It is a small step from one to the other. Actually, one of the dictionaries I consulted stated that ‘knickers’ was an abbreviation, used in America, for knickerbockers. So there you are: a man in America may be wearing knickers.

And what are knickerbockers? It is apparently a word that originated in America, but where, how, what and when?

Knickerbockers are normally associated with baggy trousers that reach to just below the knee. It is a garment that somehow we tend to associate with (middle-aged) men playing golf. There is a wonderful example of a pair of ‘knickerbockers’ in the TRC Collection. It is catalogued under number TRC 2020.0888 and was made in the Netherlands in the early 21st century.

Actually, the garment in the TRC collection was described for the catalogue by Gillian as a pair of breeches, not knickerbockers. So, in British English: knickers refer to ladies underwear, while knickerbockers, sometimes abbreviated to knickers in American English, refer to the trousers worn by male golf players, which in British English are traditionally called breeches.

Late 19th century pair of drawers with open crotch, the Netherlands (TRC 2018.1906).It is not difficult to see the link. British English ‘knickers’ underwear used to be much longer than the scanty garments of today. They were baggy underpants reaching down to below the knees, in shape comparable to the American knickers or knickerbockers outer wear worn by men. There may have been a small difference: women's underpants were often left open at the crotch, for obvious reasons. 

In Britain and America, such long baggy underpants were also named 'pantaloons' or 'drawers'. 

There you are: In England a woman wears knickers, in America she wears panties. And a golf-playing man in England wearing knickers, well, perhaps he had better go asap to America.

But I now have to make a confession. As a young boy in Holland I was always playing with knickers, and I was actually pretty good at it. I collected hundreds of them, and kept them in a box under my bed. You may wonder about me now. Actually, I was not playing with my mum’s underwear, but with knikkers, in English called marbles. The word knickerbocker is derived from a Dutch word, knikkerbakker, someone who ‘bakes’ (ceramic) knikkers. So the reader does not have to worry about me.

Diedrich Knickerbocker, as portrayed in an illustrated edition of Washington Irvings' History of New York.The Web will tell you all about the origin of the word knickerbocker. It became more popularly known when Washington Irving used it for the main character for his book: A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, published in 1809. The name he chose was Diedrich Knickerbocker, and the surname became commonly used in New York in those days for descendants of the 17th century Dutch settlers in Nieuw Amsterdam / New York.

Apparently my Dutch forebears used to walk around in trousers that reached to just below the knees. The name was later applied as a nickname for all of those living in Manhattan, and it even gave its name to the New York Knickerbockers, a basketball team, more commonly known as the New York Knicks (note: not ‘New York Knickers’). All of them knikkerbakkers.

In modern Dutch such half-long trousers are jocularly called drollenvangers, but I will spare you the translation. Finally, my wife insisted on mentioning the Knickerbocker Glory, which was (is?) some form of sundae (apparently named after the Knickerbocker Hotel in Manhattan).

For more information, see the fascinating blogs in the series ‘Recollections’, and in particular ‘Bloomers, pantaloons, and knickers – Oh my’, 10 April 2011. You may also enjoy reading another blog, with a comparable title, by Amy Olilla, 'Bloomers and knickers and drawers, Oh my!'

PS: The name of Diedrich Knickerbocker is a bit confusing; Diedrich is a German first name, certainly not Dutch. And ‘Dutch’ is the English term for the people from the Netherlands, who call the Germans ‘Duitsers’, who call themselves also Deutsche,  but the Dutch speak a language which they used to call ‘Diets’. Can you still follow it? Don't worry, all part of being European.

Willem Vogelsang, 20 April 2022