Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge

WTM are seeking potential donations of high street clothing, accessories, footwear, hats and bags from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s to join the museum’s nationally recognised costume collection!

Do you have a cherished piece from any of these decades gathering dust? Could you release your treasures to a new forever home at Worthing Museum for future generations to study and enjoy in our state of the art Costume Research Centre?

Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge is a year long collaborative, contemporary collecting project focused on the development of WTM’s costume collection.

WTM’s costume collection tells the story of everyday fashion and how it has changed over time. Our collection is of national importance because it includes homemade, altered and high street 20th century clothes that other museums won’t include. It reflects the clothing of real people – the average person on the street.

At the moment the collection contains limited pieces from the 1980s and 1990s and almost nothing to represent the 2000s! Cutting Edge seeks to remedy this. The project sees curators from WTM working with students from Shoreham Academy and Worthing High School together with participants from Superstar Arts, research, identify and source items that have had the greatest impact on fashion during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. This includes high street favourites such as Red or Dead, Benetton, Chelsea Girl, Freeman Hardy & Willis, C&A, Ben Sherman, Kangol, Tammy Girl, Warehouse and Diesel, to name a few.

The Cutting Edge team wants donated items from these decades and the history associated with them – whether it’s a photo of the piece being worn, or a story of how the owner came by it. We will select a number of donated garments to include in the costume collection.

The hunt is on!

We are hunting for high street, shop bought clothing, accessories, jewellery, footwear, hats and bags together with each item’s story – where did the item come from? When did you first wear it? Does it remind you of a special time in your life?

Perhaps you have an outfit or item/s of clothing that you raved in at Sterns or The Haçienda; a fabulous dress and heels that you discoed in at Rutherfords or Liquid Lounge in the 2000s and photos of you wearing them, associated gig tickets, flyers and stories? If so, we want to hear from you!

If you have a cherished piece from these decades gathering dust, we would love you to consider donating it for future generations to enjoy and study at our state of the art Costume Research Centre.

Help WTM Complete Our Costume Collection

We are specifically seeking items from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s – think Kangol hats, Pringle jumpers, Nike Air Jordans, that old Batman t-shirt, chainlink crop-top or the jeans you wore to Sterns nightclub every weekend. Items could be handmade, altered or from the high street.

If you have items to donate, please complete this online form with as much detail as possible including photographs, so that we can assess each item for potential inclusion in the project.

The Cutting Edge team will respond via email to each application.

Selected items will be accepted into the costume collection just as they are. Everything is packed in acid-free tissue paper and will be stored in WTM’s Costume Research Centre. We constantly monitor the environment to make sure that everything is preserved for as long as possible.

The museum is closed during the Coronavirus lockdown, so please DO NOT bring or leave items outside as we cannot acquire anything without prior assessment.

Cutting Edge
Cutting Edge
Cutting Edge

The Cutting Edge project has been supported by funds from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Clothworkers Foundation.

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Worthing Theatres and Museum is a registered charity, and we are committed to providing you with quality art and culture. For information on how you can support us as your local arts charity, such as donating or buying a membership, please click here.

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