There's always a bit of a conflict of interest with any collection of antique textiles, whether wearable art or wall hangings. On the one hand you want to experience the joy of seeing and displaying your beauties, but on the other hand dust, direct sunlight and too much time on a hanger can reduce your beautiful pieces ultimately to tatters. This is especially true of clothing items which are already in a somewhat fragile state. If you are a serious collector just beginning to acquire, you might want to consider these storage options; Unpainted natural wicker baskets with covers are a great place to store linens, lace and heavier mohair or tapestry items. The openwork in the wicker encourages air circulation while the dust has a harder time getting in. When you have clothing with heavy ornate beadwork or embroidery on them, especially if they are lightweight silk, you are inviting disaster hanging them on a hanger! Eventually the weight of the beads will pull on the shoulders enough to cause shredding and sooner than you think the hanger will be the only thing you are displaying. Storing beaded items flat is the preferred method, while taking care that the storage container has no sharp edges which could catch and snare the cloth. As for hats...we all love to see these fabulous confections out on display. Especially the huge Edwardian 'Gainsborough' hats full of trims and nettings and hat pins! However, several years ago with a bit of a sigh I lovingly put my collection of antique hats in a series of hat boxes. Vintage in themselves, lined in acid free tissue and stacked in descending size, the boxes also make a great display. And when I need a hat I can take them all out and admire them before selecting the proper hat. Dust is deadly to hats because they are so hard to clean correctly and thoroughly, and once it works its way into the velvets and silks it can start to corrode them from the inside out! There is nothing wrong with displaying antique items for a short while on padded hangers, as long as they are not forgotten and left that way for months, which turn into years. The storage of larger pieces of lace or wall hangings as well as curtains can be easy; clean pieces can simply be carefully wrapped around a tall cardboard tube, ideally with some acid-free tissue between the cardboard and the textile. In that way you can store a large variety of them upright tucked away somewhere. And for anything you are going to leave folded for a long time such as smaller lace items or silk, these always greatly benefit from a once-a-year refolding in a different direction to make sure the fold lines don't start breakage in delicate pieces. And then there are the moths...I can't tell you how many times I've run across some fantastically stylish coat at a thrift store only to discover it full of holes. I personally can't stand the smell of mothballs and many people are actually allergic to it. My solution is to store anything wool or silk in a new plastic garment bag, with airings once every six months. I often tuck a lavender bag in as well. Of course it's extremely important to make sure any time you add a piece to the bag to make certain it doesn't already have moths! Also very important to check the garment bag itself once in a while to make sure it isn't aging and off-gasing the plastic. They generally do this if exposed to excesses of heat and cold, so do think about where the bag is being hung up. When we care enough to start collecting antique clothing, then we need to care enough to maintain the pieces for the future!