Bikinis

[Jean Keller]

We are in the process of designing our new exhibit on the history of women's surfing (Women on Waves) and pondering what the best method would be for displaying a range in swimsuits from 19th century one-piece woolies to polyester bikinis - the bikinis are especially problematic since there is so little fabric. The swimsuits are just part of the exhibit, interspersed with surfboards, trophies, etc. so that is also a consideration , there's no particular area designated just for swimsuits. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mkhale]

I suggest a product called, "Paverpol" it is fabric stiffener. You could use the product to actually "sculpt" the bikini's into a human form so they could kind of "float" over a surfboard, or dress a line drawing of a surfer girl. The fact that there is little fabric allows a sculptural form without a body of any kind to inspire the visitor to "see" what isn't there. I'd do it with all the suits, make them "move" by making them 3-D....pretty cool. Paverpol is available in some US craft stores, if you google it, it's paverpolusa.com, the product was developed in Europe for the parade/festival market. The product works best on natural fibers, so the polyester thing might be a problem, but the people at Paverpol could probably help you with a work around. The product is sort of like paper mache for cloth.

[Museumgirl]

Originally Posted by mkhale

I suggest a product called, "Paverpol" it is fabric stiffener. You could use the product to actually "sculpt" the bikini's into a human form so they could kind of "float" over a surfboard, or dress a line drawing of a surfer girl. The fact that there is little fabric allows a sculptural form without a body of any kind to inspire the visitor to "see" what isn't there. I'd do it with all the suits, make them "move" by making them 3-D....pretty cool. Paverpol is available in some US craft stores, if you google it, it's paverpolusa.com, the product was developed in Europe for the parade/festival market. The product works best on natural fibers, so the polyester thing might be a problem, but the people at Paverpol could probably help you with a work around. The product is sort of like paper mache for cloth.

This is not a good idea since you are most likely going to be displaying original suits which would be ruined by this process. You may want to consider creating some type of mount out of plexiglass or stainless steel tubing covered with shrink tubing. The best thing to do would be to contact a mountmaker or conservator. Please let us know how you make out and be sure to post pictures!!!

[wmaple@aol.com]

I agree, adding a "stiffener" to original material wouldn't be the best approach. Also, I'm an independent museum designer in SoCal and have surfed since 1974. Is there any design still needed?

[BenjaminLClark]

Since bikinis are not terribly old, you could find some to use (sacrifice) as exhibit props for the exhibit using Paverpol, then have another solution for the accessioned/ borrowed artifact bikinis. I really like the idea of not displaying them "clothesline" style.

[Jean Keller]

I'd like to thank all of you for your input. Since we have such a variety of suits covering 100 years, not to mention all the other elements, it really was a perplexing problem. What we ended up doing is using a combination of full mannequins and half-round forms. Luckily, Roxy is one of the exhibit sponsors so they lent us the mannequins, then we purchased the half-round forms from Gershel Brothers. The half-round forms were mounted with a barrier board on the back and hung from the walls, while the full mannequins were placed throughout the exhibit, thus alleviating the "clothesline look." Some of our bikinis were 50 years old and all were associated with an important woman surfer so we had no extraneous pieces. Our ribbon-cutting was Saturday and we had over 200 people attend, several of whom were actually included in the exhibit. It was a fabulous success. If you have a chance to stop by the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, California sometime in the next year, please take a look at the exhibit and let me know what you think. Thanks again for the suggestions.