Sunlight: Enemy of Cloth

[Jeffrey Meffert]

Many cloth collectors have picked up items that once graced museums, large and small, across the Soviet Union. Other items have been in private collections here in the US for almost two decades where a prized piece may stay perched on a wig head indefinitely. Time and sunlight have not always been kind. I always have a half dozen uniforms on display in my house at any given time but try to keep the blinds drawn and lights out when not around and I rotate them often enough so that the same piece is not exposed to the same light month after month, year after year.
Below is a nice M43 airforce parade cap with an unusual "stain" on the band. Clearly this sat on the shelf with the cap cord askew for a really long time.
Don't forget to move your pretties around!