Product Description
The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes
Author: Kate Strasdin
Format: Paperback
Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe
The hidden fabric of a Victorian woman's life told through her unique scrapbook.
In 1838, Anne Sykes was given a diary on her wedding day. Using it to collect snippets of fabric, she created a record of her life and times. Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of fashion historian Kate Strasdin who spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within its pages.
Piece by piece, she charts Anne's life and times. Fragments of cloth become windows into Victorian life: pirates in Borneo, the complicated etiquette of mourning, poisonous dyes, the British Empire in full swing, rioting over working conditions and the terrible human cost of Britain's cotton industry. Through the evidence of waistcoats, ball gowns and mourning outfits, Strasdin lays bare the whole of human experience in the most intimate of mediums: the clothes we choose to wear.
'Flawless' — Amber Butchart
'Fascinating' — Clare Hunter
'Irresistible' — The Times
About the Author
Kate Strasdin is a dress historian who has been fascinated by old clothes since she was a child. She is a lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University and is a freelance consultant for dress and textile exhibitions. Her previous book, The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes unlocked the secrets of a previously unknown Victorian woman’s wardrobe. She lives in Devon with her husband and two children.
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