Material Culture, Dress and Fashion History
Modern and historical descriptions of Queen Anne (r. 1702–14) have left us with the caricature of an overweight, awkward and prudish woman whose court was unattractive to artists, courtiers and politicians, and whose reign was marked by ill-health and an over reliance on her court favourite Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.[i] The general Whig picture… Continue reading Queen Anne: Dowdy and dull, or early 18th-century fashionista?
Depicting Elizabeth I as mother of her people featured in many discourses during the Tudor queen’s reign. She had responded to her minister’s inquiries about marriage only days into her first parliament in 1559 by stating that she was content to remain a virgin and ‘a good mother of my Country’ until the time came… Continue reading Queen Elizabeth I as Mother, Nurse and Caregiver of the Realm
I'm delighted to announce that my new edited volume, Embodied Experiences of Making in Early Modern Europe: Bodies, Gender, and Material Culture, co-edited with Serena Dyer, has been published by Amsterdam University Press. You can read the foreword and introduction for FREE, here. This volume focuses on the body of the maker to ask how… Continue reading New Publication + Free Preview
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
Shaping Femininity's book launch was held online on 4 November 2021. Chair: Rebecca Unsworth (Birmingham Museums Trust) Discussants: Hilary Davidson (University of Sydney / La Trobe) and Erin Griffey (University of Auckland) To watch the whole launch see the video below: https://youtu.be/JE5Z0BLKHnU
In 2018 I spent two months in the UK going through records relating to tailors, body-makers, and farthingale-makers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Drapers' and Clothworker' Companies in London. While doing my archival research at the Drapers' Company hall, I mentioned to the archivist Penny that the unusual name of a… Continue reading The Life and Times of Theophilus Riley: Citizen, Civil War Conspirator and Body-maker.
Very excited to announce that my book Shaping Femininity has a cover image and pre-order links! See below for details! About Shaping Femininity In sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, the female silhouette underwent a dramatic change. This very structured form, created using garments called bodies and farthingales, existed in various extremes in Western Europe and beyond,… Continue reading Shaping Femininity Book Cover and Pre-order!
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
New research article!