Historian of Early Modern Fashion and Material Culture
The first half of the sixteenth century was a period dominated by repeated conflicts in Europe. The immense amounts of practical and ceremonial arms and armour that these conflicts required fuelled this so-called golden age of armour production seen in key centres of production such as Milan, Augsburg, and Tyrol. During these times of occupation,… Continue reading Fortuna and virtù: Embodying Classical Concepts in Renaissance Armour
In 2014 my article on this subject was published by Gender & History and a subsequent blog post titled, '“He shall not haue so much as a buske-point from thee”: Examining notions of Gender through the lens of Material Culture' was posted on the blog for the Journal for the History of Ideas. I figured that… Continue reading Seventeenth-Century Busks, Courtship and Sexual Desire
Most people do not realise (until they must go through the process) that sourcing rights and permissions for images to use in publications can be a tedious and very expensive process. I am currently sourcing images for my book and other projects, and I recently had an email from my colleague asking where to get… Continue reading The best places to obtain Early Modern Images for use in Publications
Did you know that most of the full body plate armour that we think of as being medieval is in fact usually not really medieval at all?
What should we call the torso-shaping female foundation garments of the seventeenth century? Were they pairs of bodies? Bodices? Stays? Moreover, how were they worn? Were they underwear or were the outer wear? This post clears the air about terminology!
Abstract: Farthingales were large stiffened structures placed beneath a woman’s skirts in order to push them out and enlarge the lower half of the body. During the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in England criticisms of these garments increasingly focused on their spatial ramifications, decrying their monstrous size and inconvenience. Nonetheless farthingales served important social and… Continue reading The Farthingale, Gender and the Consumption of Space in Elizabethan and Jacobean England | New Research Article
The structural fashions of the early modern period in Europe reached a peak at the turn of the seventeenth century. Whilst the ruff, a gathered and starched linen frill that was worn around the neck, was still widely worn, at the beginning of the seventeenth century a new type of standing linen collar became fashionable.
Early modern upcycling. Eighteenth-century shoes made from an Elizabethan or Jacobean waistcoat?