Les collections de vêtements d’enfant, problèmes et perspectives

Abstract

Children's fashion remains a marginal museological subject in the contemporary museographic landscape and in particular in the institutions that should be in charge of this topic: fashion and local history museums. Reflecting the late interest in childhood history, children's fashion has rarely been the subject of strategic collection and coherent documentation in these institutions. Moreover, generally based on random family donations, the collections do not document everyday clothing and dress codes across society. Because of the disappearance of this heritage, museums neglect children's clothing practices and prevent young people from accessing the history of their material culture despite this being one of their fundamental rights (United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child). Through three case studies of French and British museums associated in different ways with the collection and study of the history of children's fashion, this article analyzes the current state of children's clothing heritage and the effect the marginalisation of children dress history has on our understanding of the socialization of children. It explores the advantages of a strategic approach to preserving the memory of childhood clothing, understanding the interactions of children with their culture, and considering the perspectives that this approach could bring to young people in terms of education and social participation.

Keywords

• children’s fashion
• fashion museums
• childhood history
• clothing history
• Children’s Rights
• inclusive heritage