Miyake inflatable dress

I am looking for suggestions or insight from conservators who have
worked with items similar to an inflatable dress by Issey Miyake
that will be coming into the collection of the Cincinnati Art
Museum.  The dress has inflatable sections that blow up like beach
balls at each shoulder ("pneumatic dress", 2000).  The 'beach balls'
don't hold air like they used to due to a slow leak(s).  The dress
was previously returned to the designer to address the problem and
it appears the Miyake workshop added more glue to seal around the
inflation nipple, but the issue remains. The donor (who still wears
the dress) and the museum would like to keep the shoulders
permanently inflated-looking, as the artist intended, without
endangering the dress.  How have others treated Miyake's inflatable
pieces?

Chandra Obie
Cincinnati Art Museum


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:14
                 Distributed: Saturday, August 25, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-14-016
                                  ***