Hello! I’m Macy Shackelford and I have the amazing opportunity to complete my internship as a Graduate Assistant at the Texas Fashion Collection. I have met with the director, Annette Becker, before and been around the collection but never worked there. My focus of research is on historic costume and fashion, and I am still trying to navigate what that might look like in my professional career. One goal while working at the collection is attaining a full, rounded knowledge of how a fashion collection runs and operates. Though I have an idea, I’m excited to see it play out in front of me as well as learn. Another goal is that I will learn the practical aspects of working with objects: how to handle, mount, and catalog them.
My duties working at the collection will mainly involve cataloging new objects using the University’s library interface as well as assisting in the photo studio with the documentation of said objects that have not been photographed before. Working in the photo studio is a very physical job. We have museum-grade mannequins that are not light. They are diverse though; white, brown, black, thin, and fuller-figured. Since Annette has become director of the collection, one of her goals has been to diversify the holdings as well as how they are presented. One new acquisition we recently photographed falls in line with this goal. It is a women’s silk suit made by Bethany Yellowtail, an indigenous fashion designer. It’s printed with images of repeating elk teeth. Traditionally, real elk teeth would be sewn onto the fabric, but she has updated the design with this digital imagery. I forgot to take a picture of our suit, but I found an example online that I’ve shown below.
I have felt like a kid in a candy store working at the collection. Rows and rows of gowns, suits, boxes of shoes fill up the main collection warehouse. It has been so fulfilling to peruse the stacks and see something new every day I’m there. With over 18,000 objects it would be impossible to see everything while I’m here, but the idea is exciting. I feel very lucky to be able to get a close look at these objects and then assist the collection with digitizing them so that anyone can also see them.
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