The Art of Wearing Orders and Decorations Exhibition Materials

The Tallinn Museum of Orders of Knighthood presents its catalogue for the new temporary exhibition on the art of wearing order insignia, specifically on the wearing and mounting of sashes and ribands. Order insignia have been part of the male costume of the nobility elite since the creation of the Order of the Garter in the fourteenth century, but this time our focus will be on the period when orders and decorations began to be worn en masse, as the orders themselves started to change from elite domestic organisations of the few to awards based primarily on merit and firmly established instruments of diplomacy and diplomatic protocol. Rarely do we reflect on the mode in which the badges are sewn to the riband. Today’s style of wearing orders and decorations was established in the late nineteenth century and our exhibition shows the different ways that the badges have been attached to the ribbons and sashes, the ways the ribbands were pleated, folded and tied – the most customary mountings being still used today in most countries.