A fundraising campaign has been launched to raise more than £17,000 before the end of the year to purchase garment bags for the collection at the Fashion Museum.
A curator at the Fashion Museum | Photo © B&NES Council
The world-famous museum needs 1,400 archival garment bags to get the collection ready for its move out of the Assembly Rooms in Spring 2023.
Each archival bag will protect a garment from dust, pests, and light during and after the move.
Following 60 years at the Assembly Rooms, the Fashion Museum is having to vacate the Assembly Rooms in 2022/23 and move to a new home.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is looking for a new home for the Fashion Museum in Bath and is currently considering several possible locations. It is likely that the museum will need to close for a while before moving into a new home.
Rosemary Harden, Fashion Museum Manager, said: “The ‘Buy-a-Bag’ campaign is one of the first ways the public can get involved in this once-in-a-generation move of the collection. Your help will have a lasting impact.
“Packing and protecting the collection properly now means we can share more of it, and in new ways, after the move.”
Donors will be able to donate as many bags as they like. In exchange for their help, they will be able to choose from a range of rewards.
These include a late-night event in 2022 and private tours of the museum galleries before the fashions on display are carefully packed away for the move.
Other rewards include a Fashion Museum guidebook and tote bag, and donors can also have their names written on the garment bag tag.
Councillor Dine Romero, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “Though we are starting to pack the collection now, there will still be plenty to see at the museum over the next year.
“We have some very exciting exhibitions planned including Shoephoria! and A History of Fashion in 100 Objects, which will run into 2022.
“We also have exciting plans for a new exhibition in summer 2022.”
To donate to the Fashion Museum’s ‘Buy-a-Bag’ campaign, visit www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/support.
