The ICOM Costume annual conference for 2023 was hosted by National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, UK, from 25 to 27 September 2023. It was centred around the theme ‘All the Colours of Black’, to coincide with the National Museum’s major summer exhibition, Beyond the Little Black Dress (1 July – 29 October). The meeting had c. 80 in-person attendees representing 23 countries and an overall total of 110 participants representing 27 countries, including those who streamed the conference online.
Three days of paper sessions at NMS were introduced by Dr Christopher Breward, fashion historian and Director of National Museums Scotland. Session themes ranged from explorations of the colour black in a social and spiritual context; the interpretation of black garments in museum collections, exhibitions and displays; the ceremonial purpose of black in weddings and funerals as well as its role in fashioning identities; and techniques of production.
Eighteen of those papers have been published and are available online:
All the Colours of Black: Proceedings of the ICOM Costume Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 25-27 September 2023 / Edited by Corinne Thépaut-Cabasset.
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