I’m delighted to let you all know that PI Dr Serena Dyer and I (Co-I Sarah Bendall) have just launched the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded 🪡 Making Historical Dress Network 🪡 today! We are so excited to be putting together a series of workshops, online talks, and a festival of remaking over the next two years!
The network aims to establish a hub for the international community of academics and practitioners who work on recreation methods in dress history, from costume makers to scholars, and from curators to YouTubers.
At the events, we’ll be encouraging discussion of best practice, terminology, how to capture and communicate tacit knowledge, and showcasing work in the field.
We will also launch a mentorship scheme, where makers and academics can learn from each other to improve both the material literacy of scholars and the academic skills of makers.
Over the coming weeks and months we will be giving more details about our events and how to get involved via our Instagram and Twitter (and eventually a website)!
Follow us below:

https://www.instagram.com/makinghistoricaldressnetwork/
Are you only going to be on Twitter (I quit because of Musk) and Instagram? Also, is your focus solely on Western clothing?
Hi Helen! Unfortunately at the moment we are only on Twitter and Instagram, but we will also have a website soon.
While our physical workshops will take place in the U.K., we hope to include a wide range of international people in the network through our online events which will be open to anyone working on reconstructing any types of historical dress, including non-western clothing.