Costume Institute Conservation Fellows
Current
Katherine Shark
Katherine Shark has been the Polaire Weissman Fund Fellow for The Costume Institute since September 2025. She studies the use of synthetic coatings in fashion and utilizes material analysis to explore treatments to address related condition issues such as blooming, cracking, and flaking. Katherine’s past experiences researching a Dorothy Liebes textile that incorporated Lurex and treating a polyurethane-coated Courrèges ensemble sparked her interest in synthetic materials in contemporary fashion. Katherine’s other research interests in conservation include reconstructive patterning, both physical and digital, which she used previously to recreate a 1948 Molyneux suit for The Museum at FIT.
Past
Margherita Barone
Margherita Barone was the Gerald and Mary Ellen Ritter Memorial Fellow from 2023 to 2025. During her first year as fellow, she focused on the historical and technical research of four late 18th-century embroidered panels of dress silk from The Costume Institute’s collection (1998.191a–d). Her project revealed that the panels were likely intended to be fashioned into a robe à la piémontaise. To explore the construction of this style, she made a muslin reproduction that was also used in a visitor activity that Margherita developed and coordinated with the Education Department. In her second year, she studied cleaning methods for deodorant stains on a 1960s Geoffrey Beene romper (1977.412.4a–c), which was analyzed in collaboration with the Department of Scientific Research.
- Barone, Margherita. 2025. “Discovering the “Unfinished”: Historical and Technical Study of a Late 18th-century Fabric Embroidered à la Disposition from The Costume Institute Collection.” In Mending Threads, Filling Gaps: Conservation Narratives of Loss and Renewal. North American Textile Conservation Conference.
- Barone, Margherita. 2024. “Robe à l’anglaise.” In Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, by Andrew Bolton. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kris Cnossen
Kris Cnossen was The Gerald and Mary Ellen Ritter Memorial Fellow from 2022 to 2023. Kris spent their year at The Costume Institute on an experiment to understand the potential for damage to vintage nylon fabrics during wet cleaning. Samples taken from a non-accessioned vintage nylon garment were wet cleaned using traditional textile conservation methods. The samples were analyzed in collaboration with the Department of Scientific Research before and after cleaning to check whether damage occurred to the nylon. The samples were then artificially aged in collaboration with the Scientific Research & Analysis Department at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, and analyzed again to see how the vintage nylon would degrade over time.
Kaelyn Garcia
Kaelyn Garcia was Polaire Weissman Fund Fellow from 2019 to 2022. Kaelyn’s work, in collaboration with the Department of Scientific Research, focused on synthetic materials in The Costume Institute’s collection that had begun to deteriorate, with the goal of improving storage, documentation, and display practices. An initial survey to categorize plastic materials including buttons and zipper fasteners using instrumental analysis gave rise to a subsequent study of the paints employed by Elsa Schiaparelli and analysis of surface efflorescence on buttons used by couturier Mainbocher. After concluding a real-time ageing experiment begun by previous fellows, Kaelyn developed and implemented new anoxic PVC-P and polyurethane storage protocols to prolong the life of these materials.