Last month, Gillian and I made a quick dash to southern France to see various dear friends. We first went to visit Mohammad Khairzada, who together with his wife and children found a safe haven in France some years ago when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Khairzada studied with us in Leiden in 2007-2008, and returned to his country to conduct various archaeological excavations in and around Kabul, among other places at the famous Buddhist site of Mes Aynak. I regularly met him again at the Dutch embassy in Kabul and elsewhere when I worked in Uruzgan, in the south of the country, between 2008 and 2011.

We also went to see Joanne and Luc Aujame, who have a beautiful farmhouse just outside of Lyon. Luc lived in Kabul as a child, many years ago, together with his parents. His father, Roger Aujame, and his mother, Edith Schreiber-Aujame, were architects and urban planners who worked in the Afghan capital from 1961-1965. Some time ago, Luc and his wife donated a large number of Afghan garments to the TRC, including textiles and other objects from Nuristan (Fig. 1), formerly known as Kafiristan, east of Kabul. They also gave the TRC a large number of scans of colour photographs taken in Afghanistan in the early 1960s.

Fig. 1. Prayer mat from Nuristan, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1936). Aujame Family donation.

Princeton University Press has just announced the upcoming publication (Febr. 2026)  of The Atlas of World Embroidery: A Global Exploration of Heritage and Styles. The book was written by Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director of the TRC, and uses a large number of textiles housed in the TRC Collection.

The book is described in the announcement as "A richly illustrated history of embroidery and needlework, showcasing the glorious range of styles, motifs, and materials used around the world."

"Embroidery is one of the world’s most widely shared forms of creative expression—and one of its most varied and diverse. It can be found in every region, yet its visual languages, themes, and techniques vary greatly: some are marked by unique styles and others show influences from neighboring cultures. The Atlas of World Embroidery examines many distinctive embroidery styles and traditions found across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia."

"From the quillwork and birch boxes of Indigenous North America to the decorative matyo style of Hungary, the zardozi embroiderers of India, and the satin stitches of Han Dynasty China, Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood provides a comprehensive history of embroidery, describing its materials and tools, its designs and symbols, and its uses and makers. Emphasizing the visual aspects of embroidery across cultures, the atlas features an unprecedented array of color images celebrating the art form."

There are lots of things happening at the moment at the TRC, including preparing for some very, very big changes. As readers of the TRC Blog and Newsletter will know we have been working with various groups to move the TRC to larger premises so we can expand our range of activities, collection and teaching commitments as an international centre (hub!) for textile knowledge and skills in all their diverse forms.

Yes: We hope to move soon. Showcases are being emptied.Leiden: City of Textile Knowledge

Leiden Council is actively helping us on many levels – they really want us to expand as a knowledge centre, serving an international community of textile lovers who want to pass onto the next generation(s) skills and knowledge about this fundamental aspect of human life and culture. With the Council's help, we are talking with various school groups, Leiden University, etc., about increasing the teaching of textiles and dress studies and making the TRC Collection, Library and research facilities more widely known and available, also online (compare the recent blog about 360-photography of TRC items).

There will also be an expanded number of workshops, courses, study days, weekend events and lectures. We are talking, for example, with various potential teachers to offer an increased range of subjects, from ancient Egyptian textiles to a history of jewellery.

In addition, a range of exhibitions that vary in size, from a single showcase to two large rooms are planned. These will be used to show the range, size and diversity of both the world of textiles and dress as well as the TRC’s amazing collection.

Fig 1: First impression of the Vasa ship. The picture does not do justice to the sheer size of this beauty. Photograph by author.During a trip to Stockholm I visited the Vasa ship museum. This place highlights a spectacularly preserved Swedish warship Vasa that sank in 1628. You're faced with the massive ship front as soon as you walk in and it is absolutely breathtaking (Fig 1).

Because the ship was wrongly weighted it never made it out of the bay, sinking only minutes after its departure. The ship is preserved in its entirety and was carefully dredged out of the sea in the 1960s, conserved, and placed into the Vasa museum.

Fig 2: Showcases in front of the ship with preserved jackets, buttons (very similar in style to TRC 2024.2729 and TRC 2024.2618), brocaded fabric, shoes and mittens. Photograph by author.The museum beautifully highlights the textile finds from this site (see Fig 2). Underwater archaeology is a keen interest of mine as it is one of the few ways organic material can be preserved. So items such as textile, leather and wood that would usually long since have decayed often remain.

Items from the 17th century at the TRC are really limited to some velvet coths and buttons, but I realised while visiting just how much I understood about these items due to my time at the TRC.

Pashtun woman's wedding outfit, prepared for 360-photography. Photograph by author.The TRC and Modemuze collaborated on a project last week during which a selection of ten outfits/objects from the TRC Collection were photographed from all angles, to generate an online, 360-degrees image. Modemuze is a fascinating platform connecting different museum collections from across the Netherlands and Belgium, aiming to tell the stories about all these objects of Fashion.

On our side, clothing from a wide variety of countries were selected to give an insight into the diversity of our pieces: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Japan, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands and Palestine. As the curator on call, I was to help decide on the selection of pieces and mount them on mannequins to be photographed.

Each item was fitted on a mount, and set up meticulously on a turn-table in front of a backdrop. Then, as the turntable rotated the object, a camera would photograph it from every angle.

I recognised them straight way when going through the TRC collection: bindi stickers (TRC 2014.0519). As a child, I used to stick them on my forehead during dress-up parties with friends. I knew they were something Indian, but my understanding did not go much further than that. Now, seeing them again at the TRC, in a completely different context, I find myself curious about what they actually mean.

Bindi set from India. Early 21st century. TRC 2014.0519.

A blog that I wrote in October 2024 (to be downloaded here) described my study of  a recent donation to the TRC of 65 metal buttons. The buttons were collected without any context in the Netherlands. In this blog, I would like to elaborate on my findings of last year.

In the previous blog I suggested that, based on the shank type, these buttons could not be older than the 19th century. However, I was wrong. I now know that the oldest buttons are medieval (see TRC 2024.2625) and the group presents, in fact, a fair representation of buttons from every century since then until the 19th.

Metal button with a five-petalled flower and a key shank with a tiny hole. Part of the button has broken off. Medieval. TRC 2024.2625.

Key shank with tiny hole. Metal button TRC 2024.2625.

Clare Waight KellerWe are very happy to announce that international Fashion Designer and Creative Director, Clare Waight Keller, has very kindly agreed to become a member of the TRC Board.

Clare has worked as a designer for various fashion houses, including Calvin Klein (New York), Ralph Lauren, and Gucci. She was also artistic/creative director for Pringle of Scotland, Chloé, and Givenchy. More recently she has taken on the role of Global Creative Director of Uniqlo.

Clare has sent the following message about this amazing new development:

"I’m thrilled to join the Board of the TRC and to be part of helping Dr Gillian preserve the future of historic textiles. This knowledge is vital and an incredibly important part of our collective cultural history. What has been achieved so far has already contributed significantly to the prevention of the loss of ancient and unique textiles and clothing for future generations. In my role I hope to bring even more significant value and support to ensuring this expertise is not lost and its value is protected. I’m truly looking forward to contributing to the long term future of the TRC and highlighting its unique importance to our social history and society."

Clare’s knowledge of textiles and fashion will be a great boon for the current and future work and development of the TRC.