As fashion museums and archives close their doors during the pandemic, I am discovering how open-source resources can enable me to continue my curatorial and research practice. During my lockdown in Singapore I made a replica of a Simone Rocha skirt from Spring/Summer 2014 collection from downloaded paper patterns from ShowStudio. Through making this replica, I was able to gain insights into Rocha’s work and processes, and to situate it within a wider context of production and history. ShowStudio’s Designer Download, begun in 2002, enabled anyone with internet access and a printer to obtain an original paper pattern from contemporary designers and produce their own replica. The presentation will conclude by showing how institutions like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) have also begun adopting similar open-source methods, and what this could mean for fashion researchers who reside outside traditional ‘fashion capitals’.

Daniela Monasterios Tan>>