The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes

Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe

Author: Kate Strasdin

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Description

The hidden fabric of a Victorian woman's life - from family and friends to industry and Empire - told through her unique textile scrapbook.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

Critic Reviews

Strasdin's painstaking detective work has uncovered many of the fascinating insights behind the fabric swatches contained in this unusual collection Sunday Times
Snippets of fabric, snippets of biographical detail, snippets of historical evidence - this is a book entirely made up of snippets and I found it irresistible Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times
'[A] questing and poignant social history' Hephzibah Anderson, The Observer
An extraordinarily rich record of middle-class Victorian life, both at home and abroad... [a] fascinating book Guardian
This is a wonderful book! The life of a woman, a time and an industry, woven, like cloth, into something unique and beguiling. A treat for the curious reader Pip Williams, author of The Dictionary of Lost Words
Demonstrates beautifully how clothing is woven into the fabric of our lives, our dreams and our histories. Amber Butchart
For the imaginative reader, on closing the book, 'the silks still glisten from the paper' Mail Plus
In this engaging book, Strasdin proves triumphantly that the study of fashion is not a frothy sideshow but can provide a textured account of history... [a] compelling account of 19th-century life seen through women's eyes Daily Mirror
Thanks to Strasdin's forensic research...this book opens into a vivid history of expansion and empire. And all wrapped up in 2,184 pieces of cloth BBC History Magazine
Intriguing and engaging... A fascinating and creative unravelling of Anne's life and 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. She has appeared on The Great British Sewing Bee as an expert.In 2016 she was given an anonymous album full of annotated dress swatches that had been kept in a trunk for over fifty years, its original keeper unknown. She spent the next six years unlocking its secrets.She lives in Devon with her husband and two children.