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Over the last few days the initial sorting, tagging and numbering of the Arizona collection has been taking place! The larger boxes with complete Albanian outfits have been opened and these marvelous items hung up on racks. The American quilts, part of the same donation, have brought forth cooing noises from Beverley Bennett, who is in charge of the TRC’s collection of quilts. Although one item did confuse some volunteers (including myself): a patchwork skirt in Christmas materials with a narrow waist. It turned out to be a Christmas tree skirt, i.e. a covering for around the lower part of a Christmas tree to hide the trunk and stand. Of course, what else…..?

Saturday saw another important step in building up the TRC’s European collection. When the Amsel Collection from Paris, with many Hungarian and Romanian garments, was first unpacked at the TRC a few weeks ago we had several ‘walk-in‘ visitors, one a Romanian Dutch couple, and a few hours later a Hungarian couple. We discussed with both of them our need for further information about objects, confirmation of provenance, and the need for the stories behind. And on Saturday (2 April) there was the first of several meetings.

Discussing Romanian emboideries with a group of specialists, 2 April 2022 (photograph Maria Linkogle).

Japanese fine glass beads are highly valued by fashion designers, artists and crafts enthusiasts worldwide. These minute beads are generally called ‘seed beads’ and were an important feature of 20th century Japanese fashion, being used for beaded bags made from the seed beads in a wide variety of colours.

The first Japanese company to produce beaded bags was Lumy Hashimoto in Osaka. Around 1920 their quality bags became popular among young women in high society who dressed in Western clothes - they were called ‘modern girls’ (moga). Beaded bags were also exported to the US and other countries. The older examples of Hashimoto bags were made using imported beads and decorated with patterns in the Art Deco style. This company kept producing beaded bags to go with both Western clothes and kimono until 2016, when they closed their business.

Art Deco style bag by Lumy Hashimoto, Osaka. 1960s-1970s (TRC 2021.0632).

Ikat cloth from East Sumba, Indonesia, 1980-2000 (TRC 2022.0893).The last few days saw the TRC staff cataloguing the last of the Amsel Collection from Paris. It includes some 500 items that come from various groups living in Romania and Hungary, as well as various other countries. 

In addition, a few weeks ago we were given over sixty Indonesian textiles by the Zant family in Amsterdam. They travelled throughout Indonesia between 1970-2005 and bought numerous ikats and other textiles. These well-documented pieces can be found via the TRC Database. The Zant textiles will be used to make an online reference collection for Indonesian ikats. This week several more ikats, plus two ikat looms will be picked up from the Zant family. A number of these ikats will be displayed in our forthcoming exhibition on ikats from around the world.

And then yesterday, Tuesday 29th, some even more interesting and diverse things were happening! The morning was spent setting up a false wall in the TRC Gallery to hide the extra racks needed for the Arizona collection that was due to arrive at any moment and which we have been looking forward to for months.

We have just put on line in the TRC Database an Iraqi festive outfit (TRC 2022.0914a-f) made by Suzan Sukari in Qaraqosh in northern Iraq, so we thought you might be interested in more details about the items, especially the charuga, why we decided to order the garments and what happened to it and other garments en route to the TRC! Detail of charuga, northern Iraq, 2021/2022. The Syriac text is embroidered at the top (TRC 2022.0914d).

Looking at appliqués from Cairo, at the Sunday afternoon talk, 27 March. Photograph: Beverley Bennett.We have just had the second Sunday Textile Talk at the TRC Leiden! These are a series of informal lectures and talks that are planned for the last Sunday of every month and which will be used to take a look at the diversity of world textiles and dress. 

The first Textile Talk took place on the 27th February 2022 and was about the history and types of lace caps worn in the Rijnland region of the Netherlands during the 19th and early 20th century. The textile talk today included a Powerpoint presentation and was about a very different subject, namely the appliqué panels made in the Street of the Tent Makers in the Khan al-Khalili, Cairo, Egypt.

Appliqués have been produced in Egypt since at least the time of the famous Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamun, who died in c.1323 BC. His tomb had numerous examples of textiles and garments, including items decorated with embroidery and appliqué.

The production of appliqué (direct and inlay forms) became widespread in the medieval Egypt and were even depicted in illustrated manuscripts of the period. 

Spring has finally arrived in Leiden and it is clear that things are happening and people are on the move again! For some time the TRC has been working towards the stated goal of becoming an international home and expert centre for textiles and dress, for teaching and presenting textile crafts, and indeed making Leiden into a centre for textile studies! This week saw various movements and events relating to these aims. And then I woke up this morning feeling we are nearly there!

A charuka commissioned by the TRC from a Christian community in northern Iraq. The garment is being processed by Fatima Abbadi, who teaches Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian embroidery and dress at the TRC.

Glove produced in communist Romania in 1973 for the West European market (TRC 2022.0820t).A few days ago the TRC was given a cardboard box filled with single gloves, not a pair in sight! The box was given by Mrs G.C. van der Poel, who is now in her 90s. Why did we accept the box and contents? Simple, because of its potential story!

The box was sent to Mrs van der Poel by the Dutch fashion company, Claudia Sträter, which is currently based in Diemen, near Amsterdam, The contents consist of 54 single gloves, most of which are made of leather in various colours, as well as being made and decorated in a variety of manners and forms. In addition, some of the glove cuffs have applied beads, embroidery (hand and machine) or inset shapes in contrasting colours. The gloves can be found on the TRC Collection database under nos. TRC 2022.0820 to TRC 2022.0823.

Obi-dome from Japan, decorated in Mondriaan-style, c. 2020 (TRC 2022.0232)..Exactly 150 years ago, on 7 March 1872, the Dutch abstract and non-figurative artist Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan was born in the Dutch city of Amersfoort. We were alerted to this moment by DailyArt, the absolutely wonderful app that presents a work of art every day.

We could not let this event pass without drawing attention to Mondriaan's enormous influence on design history, and in particular on textiles and accessories. Compare the Yves Saint Laurent collection of 1965.