Research Collective for Dress and Textile History and Fashion Studies

The Research Collective for Dress, Textiles History and Fashion Studies at the University of Brighton aims to enable, enhance and publicise collective research and debate in the fields of dress and textile  history and fashion studies amongst those in the University of Brighton and its surrounding communities who have an interest in, or are undertaking study in these and related fields.

Background:  Since the late 1980s, interest in Dress History and Fashion Studies at the university has grown steadily partly as a result of the successful achievements of our BA, MA and PhD Dress/Textile History students and our staff publications. We also have strong links with the Fashion and Textiles Design staff and students in the university and have close working relationships with dress curators in our locality. All of this has built up a momentum of its own, upon which we base the following work and ideas of this Collective:

Our aims are:

• to encourage the development of research and debate on the objects and representations of dress/fashion using the full range of historical and contemporary visual, media  and archival sources, through study days and conferences.
• to encourage and enable transdisciplinary research in dress and textile history and fashion studies at undergraduate, post graduate and post doctoral levels at the university and in its adjacent community
• to work with an ‘open-door’ policy in order to encourage the active involvement of  those in the wider area of Brighton and its geographical localities, who have a committed and active interest in these fields, especially professionals in the fields of museum curatorship, and fashion practice.
• to encourage members of the collective to offer, (as is current practice within this group), research papers  at trans-disciplinary venues in order to widen academic debate and research. Currently papers have been given in the following research contexts, nationally and internationally: History of Dress, Design and Science, Film Studies, Social and Art History, History of Business, Oral History and History of Literature.

 All who share these interests are most welcome to join us.