The John Bright Collection (www.thejohnbrightcollection.co.uk) is an online archive and exhibit of original garments and textiles belonging to the Oscar award-winning costume designer and Cosprops founder, John Bright. The collection includes original costumes for both men and women, from the 17th century to the 1960s.

The entire collection had to be photographed consistently, and I was one of the team that created the hundreds of original silhouettes needed to display each garment in an historically accurate fashion.

First, the shape of each item was determined from visual references such as paintings and photographs. Then we assessed the condition and dimensions of each garment in detail: was it stable enough for mannequin mounting or would it need to be displayed flat?

The distribution of wadding on each mannequin was meticulously planned in order to fit the silhouette to the garment. Each item was protected by close-fitting covering over the wadding, and handled with museum-standard care during the photoshoot.