The Warp and Weft of Memory: Out of the closet of Gisèle d’Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht

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Made my first visit to begin documenting Gisèle’s wardrobe. Her closet is packed but meticulously labelled and at times with narrative descriptions: “exotic slippers”, “these pants are good but too short”, and “pantyhose without feet – good for boots”. Her taxonomical reflections jump between German, Dutch, French and English. Moccasins fill several boxes. These were her favourite practical shoes. She also has things she was fascinated by – blue glass beaded necklaces from Greece that are reminiscent of the beach glass she kept in her studio to make mosaics. Most of her clothes are no-nonsense, except for a few outfits she wore on special occasions, such as the above vibrant two-piece sixties dress and the below three-piece red wool suit by the Dutch designer Dick Holthaus.
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Read more in Dutch about Dick Holthaus here.