I’m looking forward to presenting at the Fourth International Artefacta Conference next year, which will take place in Helsinki in February 2025.
Our paper, “Determining the Future: Pre-Creation Accessioning and the Documentation of Design Process”, aligns with the conference’s focus on artefacts and material culture. The paper explores pioneering curatorial strategies we’ve developed in collaboration with the Massimo Osti Studio, challenging conventional museum accessioning practices.
Museums tend to accession garments long after their production, once their aesthetic, societal, or critical value has been established. However, rapidly evolving design, production, and consumption practices—exemplified by the rise of direct-to-consumer models and limited edition drops—demand a more immediate approach, one that preserves the full spectrum of a garment's relationship to these processes and its connection to production and culture.
In 2022, after discussions with Lorenzo Osti, the Westminster Menswear Archive (WMA) launched a unique project to document the design evolution of the newly founded Massimo Osti Studio. Even before the first garments were conceived or designed, WMA decided to accession a sample from each production piece created during the Studio’s foundational year in 2024.
Our paper will examine the innovative curatorial strategy employed by the WMA, showcasing the determination of the creative and industrial processes of garment production while intentionally avoiding the imposition of curatorial or donor biases. By embracing the uncertainty and unpredictability of this approach, the WMA sought to document a dynamic and evolving narrative, highlighting the complexities of contemporary fashion and material culture.