I found out on the weekend, by happy chance, that there's a special exhibition running in Bamberg:
Die Bamberger Kaisergewänder unter der Lupe. Methoden und Ergebnisse der aktuellen Forschungen. The exhibition started on September 25 and will run until January 10, 2021. It is presenting the results of the research done on the imperial garments that are conserved in Bamberg in the last five years. These are splendid pieces, and I will definitely go there to look at them - it's almost on my doorstep, after all!

There's also two virtual exhibitions that might be interesting: One about the cultural history of distancing (and social distancing), and one showing some works of Albrecht Dürer. Both are in German (and they were a bit awkward to look at in my browser).

More catching up: There's a recently started exhibition at the Haus der Seidenkultur Krefeld, titled "Purpurschnecke und Färberwaid". It is about the development of textile dyeing and colourings, and it will remain open until 28.02.2021.

You can read more about the exhibition in German here, and English information is available here. And if you want, you can even watch the video recording of the (mostly digital) opening!

If you're in London, or going there in the next two months, you might want to visit the Japanese Embassy building to have a look at their exhibition Hakata Ori: Weaving Through to the Present.

Hakata Ori is regarded as one of most well-known examples of woven textiles in Japan. Weaving in Hakata (now known as Fukuoka City) is said to date back to 1241 and this year is an auspicious one for local weavers as they celebrate 777 years since the beginnings of Hakata Ori.

Traditional Hakata obi (belts) became highly regarded for their strength and durability, enjoying popularity amongst samurai for the ability to hold their swords in place and also the patronage of the shōgun for many centuries.

This exhibition retraces the history of weaving from this area of Kyushu at the same time as putting the spotlight on its modern weaves. Protecting the heritage and customs of the past whilst preparing for the future is essential for any traditional craft to prosper in modern times. Today, Hakata Ori craftsmen create a broad array of items for display as well as for everyday use.

The exhibition runs until January 31, 2019; the embassy (101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT) is open on weekdays 9:30 to 17:30, closed on weekends, 25-26 December and 31 December – 3 January inclusive. Admission is free, but photo ID is necessary to gain entry to the Embassy.

There's a new exhibition on at the University of Manchester Library, called "The Alchemy of Colour". It will be running into August, and it does look very fascinating - it's a pity I won't be able to make it, but if you are in the area and interested in colours, it might be worth a visit.

There will be a conference in Munich, at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, about Structuring Fashion -Foundation Garments Throughout History. Obviously, the emphasis is on early modern and modern history, but Beatrix Nutz will be talking abou medieval formative underwear as well. The conference takes place September 13 and 14, with additional offers for the 15th and 16th if you have the time. You can find more info and the registration link behind the link.

 
 

As one of the programme points during the Textile Forum, we went on an excursion to see the special exhibition "Expedition Mittelalter" at the Schnütgen-Museum in Cologne. If you can arrange it, I heartily recommend going there, as you will get treated to a lot of beautiful things usually buried in the archives. This includes, obviously, textiles.

Among them: a puzzling (at least to me!) embroidery of a horse or unicorn on a black (yes, black) linen background, dated to the 15th century. An incredibly beautiful reliquiary bag embroidered with silk in counted stitch and with a flat gold strip (also puzzling, because I have no real idea on how that strip was stitched in, and oh what would I give to see the back of that thing!). Plus a plethora of other textiles. Oh, and the Anno chasuble - a samite cloth dyed with real mollusc purple, dating to about 1000.

As opposed to most special exhibitions in German museums, in this case all the objects are from the hosting museum's own archives, and so you are allowed to take photographs for private purposes (no flash and tripod, so come prepared with a steady hand).

The only downside is that there is no catalogue. There's a comic book that you can complete with a kind of treasure hunt during the exhibition, which is nice and fun in its own way, but nothing even remotely helpful if you're trying to learn more about the individual objects. But yes, that's the only downside, and the pieces themselves are really making a visit worth its while.

The exhibition will run until January 28, 2018, so there's still a bit of time to travel there.

It's neither medieval, nor the classical meaning of "straw to gold", but it's still utterly fascinating and really, really interesting: There's an exhibition called "Stroh zu Gold" in Schloß Moritzburg, showing more than 200 examples of the art of straw plaiting and other straw craft, among them a straw wallpaper from the 18th century.

Plaiting with grass (or similar things) is one of the earliest textile techniques that we can trace, and probably how all this stuff with fuzzy things started out in the first place. So this is something I find incredibly cool - and the good news is that the special exhibition will run until 31.10. this year, and it is open daily.

You can find out more about it (and see some pictures) here. (The page is only available in German.)

Twitter can be really useful sometimes - I learned there that the V&A London will open its new exhibition "Opus Anglicanum, Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery"  on 1 October 2016, and the exhibition will run until 5 February 2017.

There's a programme of events related to the exhibition here, and the main page about the special exhibition is here. It looks like a  spectacular line-up of gold embroidery, so if you can manage to get to London during the exhibition, it is surely worth a visit!