Press Release #1
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PRESS RELEASE | October 2026
From Museum Collections to Creative Experiences, the
REEVALUATE project.
EU-funded project demonstrates how historic garments can
inspire contemporary sewing patterns and interactive digital experiences,
creating new opportunities for cultural heritage reuse.
Project developments covered: March-May 2026
How can a historic museum garment inspire a contemporary design or become part of
an interactive digital experience? The EU-funded REEVALUATE project is
demonstrating new possibilities through its Fashion Time Machine pilot,
combining fashion heritage, creative design and gaming technologies.
Led by MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp, with contributions from the European Fashion Heritage Association (EFHA), CERTH, FFP and sewing-pattern specialist Fibre Mood, the pilot explores how garments from museum collections can become the starting point for new creative applications.
Figure 1: Original Object ST2202. From historic fashion to contemporary design: a garment from MoMu’s collection inspires the Mildred sewing pattern developed by Fibre Mood through REEVALUATE’s Fashion Time Machine pilot.
From historic fashion to contemporary design
One of the pilot’s achievements is Mildred, a contemporary sewing pattern developed by Fibre Mood from a 1920s garment in MoMu’s collection.
The development process combined historical research, detailed examination of the original garment and contemporary pattern-making expertise. MoMu provided documentation, photographs and curatorial knowledge, while Fibre Mood adapted the garment’s defining design features into a pattern suitable for today’s sewing community.
The resulting pattern was published through Fibre Mood’s website and made available in physical form at the MoMu museum shop, alongside a contemporary recreation of the historic garment.
Mildred demonstrates how fashion heritage can move beyond museum displays and become something people can engage with creatively, allowing contemporary makers to explore historical design through their own work.
Bringing museum garments into interactive digital experiences
The second strand of the Fashion Time Machine uses gaming technologies to offer a different form of engagement with historic clothing.
CERTH and FFP have developed a working prototype of an interactive 3D museum installation in which users can select a virtual avatar, dress it in a digitized garment from MoMu’s collection and interact with it in a virtual fashion-photography environment.
Using AI-driven motion capture, the application enables the avatar to mirror the user’s movements in real time. Users can also explore different poses and animations while interacting with the digitized clothing.
The prototype demonstrates how digital technologies can create engaging experiences around museum collections without requiring physical interaction with fragile historical garments.
Connecting cultural heritage with creative industries
Together, the two applications illustrate REEVALUATE’s broader approach to the responsible creative reuse of cultural heritage.
Rather than focusing solely on digitization, the project investigates how historical objects can be enriched with contextual information and used in new applications while maintaining connections to their original cultural significance.
For museums, these approaches offer opportunities to engage different audiences. For designers and creative professionals, digitized heritage collections can become sources of inspiration and innovation.
The Fashion Time Machine is one of three REEVALUATE pilots, alongside activities involving Olympic heritage and music in Greece and archaeological heritage in Aquileia, Italy.
Through these collaborations, REEVALUATE explores how cultural heritage institutions and creative-sector professionals can work together to unlock new possibilities for Europe’s shared heritage.
About REEVALUATE
REEVALUATE is a Horizon Europe project developing a collaborative framework for the digitization, contextualization, management and responsible creative reuse of cultural heritage assets. The project brings together cultural heritage institutions, research organizations, technology providers and creative-sector stakeholders to develop and test innovative digital tools across three European pilots.
Project website: https://reevaluate.eu/
Project Coordinator
Dr. Anastasios Drosou (CERTH): drosou@iti.gr
Technical & Innovation Manager
Dr. Anastasia Dimou (KU Leuven): anastasia.dimou@kuleuven.be
Funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101132389.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
