The fourth workshop in the 'Tailored Trades: Clothes, Labour and Professional Communities,
1880-1939' project took place on 14 July 2014. This AHRC-funded research network is co-ordinated by Nicole Robertson (Northumbria University) and Vike Plock (Exeter University). The July workshop dealt with the subject of ‘Women, Clothes and the New Workforce’ and was held in Exeter. This one-day event examined the role of clothing in
discourses on women’s professional opportunities. Papers were given by
Lucy Noakes (University of Brighton), Becky Munford (Cardiff
University), Fiona Hackney (Falmouth University) and Rhonda Garelick
(University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Topics explored during this workshop
included: feminine and military identities in First World War Britain;
Virginia Woolf, trousers and the work of the woman writer; dress and
workplace identities in British women’s magazines; and Coco Chanel, myth
and fashion. The final event of the research network is the
'Clothes, Working Lives and Social Change' conference that takes place
12-13 September at the Bishopsgate Institute (London). Further details
can be found on the 'Tailored Trades' website.
