My name is Scott Schiavone, Decorative Art Curator at The Harris in Preston and MA Fashion Curation Alumni.
My career in museums has been a real journey, one shaped by perseverance, passion and a lot of learning along the way. It all started when I volunteered with Glasgow Museums, working closely with the Curator of European Costume and Textiles. I helped with cataloguing, preparing collections for decant and researching for exhibitions. That 12-month placement gave me a solid foundation and really confirmed that this was the path I wanted to follow.
After that, I volunteered at National Museums Scotland, where I had the chance to work on the Charles W. Stewart Collection and explore the incredible design archive of British fashion legend Jean Muir. It was an amazing experience and gave me hands-on access to some of the most important fashion collections in the country, perfect for honing my research and object-handling skills.
In 2018, I got my first paid curatorial job as Assistant Curator at The Fan Museum in Greenwich, London, the UK’s only museum dedicated entirely to fans and fan-making. It was a brilliant place to deepen my understanding of material culture and historic fashion accessories, and I learned a lot about working in a highly specialised museum setting.
In 2022, I joined The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library in Preston as Assistant Curator for 'Harris Your Place', a major £21 million regeneration project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.
It was a huge opportunity, and I loved being part of such an ambitious transformation. Then in 2023, I was thrilled to step into the role of Decorative Art Curator. I now care for a fantastic collection that includes ceramics, glass, fashion and textiles. I’m always looking for new ways to bring these stories to life for our audiences. After finishing my undergraduate degree in History of Art and Architecture in 2004, I took a bit of an unexpected turn - I became a flight attendant for a long-haul international airline. It might not have been the most obvious next step, but it gave me the chance to travel the world and experience art, architecture and culture firsthand.
I’ll never forget one of my first trips to New York. I was so excited to visit the Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a building I’d studied in-depth. I walked 52 blocks to get there, full of anticipation… only to find it completely covered in scaffolding! I was gutted. But just next door was the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and I noticed a poster for an exhibition called 'Fashion in Colour'. I thought, why not pop in?
That decision turned out to be life changing. The exhibition absolutely captivated me. I’d never seen fashion presented in such a powerful, thought-provoking way. Right then and there, I knew that I wanted to become a fashion curator.
It hasn’t always been easy. There have been detours and challenges, but I’ve always believed that success comes not just from talent, but from keeping going even when the route isn't straightforward. There have been so many exciting moments in my fashion curation career so far, and each one has helped shape the curator I am today. One of the earliest, and most memorable, highlights was my time volunteering at National Museums Scotland. I was lucky to be mentored by some truly inspiring curators who took me under their wing and gave me the skills, confidence and insight I needed to take my first real steps into the world of fashion curation. Getting hands-on with the internationally significant Muir collection was a real ‘pinch me’ moment.
Fast forward a few years and another major milestone has been working on Harris Your Place. It’s been such a privilege to help breathe new life into our beautiful Grade I listed building, and even more rewarding to work with local communities in Preston to co-curate new displays and acquisitions for the fashion and textile collections. Knowing that this work is making a real difference to people’s connection with the Museum is incredibly meaningful.
Being promoted from Assistant Curator to Decorative Art Curator has also been a huge moment for me. I now look after the Harris’s fabulous fashion and textile collection—including the much-loved Horrockses Fashions collection, the largest held by any museum in the UK. The collection is not only rich in design and style history, but also deeply tied to both local and national history. Working with it is a real honour.
Looking ahead, I’m thrilled to be planning a major fashion exhibition at The Harris, set to open in September 2026. Alongside the exhibition, I’m working on a new publication featuring a series of essays by invited authors, which will launch with the opening of the exhibition. It’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting projects of my career so far and I can’t wait to share it with you all soon!
I’ve got big plans for the future and I’m excited about what’s next.