Clothes are just things made of cloth, until our bodies bring them to life. Fitted just so, they flow and they flutter, they get ruffled and rumpled, emphasizing our presence with every step we take.

UD Prof. Laura Mina sees a beautiful lyricism in this interplay between people and their attire, in the oneness that is created when the two are joined: Her task and her passion is to bring this sense of symbiotic kinship to life, even when there’s no body to fill the fabric.

As associate director of textiles and head of the Textile Lab at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Mina is an expert in conserving the fabric artifacts of history, but also a master in creating a context for those textiles to speak their story. For Winterthur’s recent “Costuming The Crown” exhibit, she and her team worked months to build 40-odd mannequin displays for the royal attire worn on the Netflix series, zhushing and tucking and bracing until the elaborate clothing was brought to life.

Students from UD and Winterthur’s Art Conservation Program were by her side, five days a week for four long weeks, gaining expertise and an esoteric sort of insight: How would ladies’ undergarments of the era have altered the lines of a dress? Should the displays put more emphasis on the historical characters in the show, or the wearable works of art themselves?

This time, Mina chose to highlight the art. But she hopes her students appreciate how it’s all infused with history as well, just as she did when she discovered her passion. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I actually could be paid to touch the art, and do all this historical research. This sounds amazing. How do I get this job?”