This article reimagines fashion provenance research methods by presenting an alternative, queer-centred approach that expands the field beyond its restrictive, hegemonic value systems towards a more nuanced and diversified landscape. By proposing queer object histories as a critical methodology, this article presents a reformation of normative provenance research. Curator-led object and image analyses emphasise the interpretive potential of garments and visual culture to present a history of queer identity. By shifting focus from ownership to interpretation, this approach underscores the value in orienting historical contexts and queer readings as techniques for queering provenance.This article challenges the dominant conventions of fashion museology and provenance through interviews with two curators. Queer readings of two case studies presented by curators - a nineteenth-century waistcoat and a George Barbier illustration - exemplify where using interpretive methodologies to map an object's itinerary can construct a more comprehensive provenance of that object's ‘life’. This approach seeks to both expand the breadth of museum programming and offer museum practitioners a framework through which to recontextualise their collections to represent diverse audiences.
Milana Stewart (Fri,) studied this question.