A Dealer’s Life

For me, the most fun talk at last weekend’s symposium at LACMA was “A Dealer’s Life: Conversation with Martin Kamer and Wolfgang Ruf”. These were the two men who teamed up to build the collection that LACMA acquired, and together with Sharon Takeda, the senior curator of the Costume and Textiles Department, they told many interesting stories about their friendly rivalry and acquiring these pieces.

I managed to snatch a couple of burry photos from their Powerpoint presentation – there were a lot of behind the scenes shots that were a real treat.

This 1860’s dress is featured in the exhibition to display the roller printing techniques that were newly developed. What didn’t make the exhibition cut was the matching day bodice:

Exciting, right? Well, the audience thought so – there was an audible gasp when the picture flashed on the screen. Kamer also explained that this day bodice has hook and eye tape down the front, which is the earliest example he’s seen of that. (Hope I got that info right – I was madly taking pictures and notes and probably didn’t get everything right!)

Another crowd favorite is this dress from the 1830’s: