Fashion Museum launches fundraising appeal – Buy-a-Bag to help move museum collection

The Fashion Museum has launched a ‘Buy-a-Bag’ fundraising campaign to help to raise £17,500 before 31 December 2021. The museum needs 1,400 archival garment bags to get this much-loved collection ready for its move out of the Assembly Rooms in Spring 2023. Each archival bag will protect a garment from dust, pest and light during and after the move.

Rosemary Harden, Fashion Museum Manager, said: “The ‘Buy-a-Bag’ campaign is one of the first ways the public can get involved in this once-in-a-generation move of the collection. Your help will have a lasting impact. Packing and protecting the collection properly now means we can share more of it, and in new ways, after the move.”

Donors will be able to donate as many bags as they like. In exchange for their help, they will be able to choose from a range of rewards. These include a late-night event in 2022 and private tours of the museum galleries before the fashions on display are carefully packed away for the move. Other rewards include the Fashion Museum guidebook and tote bag, and donors can also have their names written on the garment bag tag.

Councillor Dine Romero, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “Though we are starting to pack the collection now, there will still be plenty to see at the museum over the next year. We have some very exciting exhibitions planned including Shoephoria! and A History of Fashion in 100 Objects, which will run into 2022. We also have exciting plans for a new exhibition in summer 2022.”

To donate to the Fashion Museum’s ‘Buy-a-Bag’ campaign, please visit www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/support.