The dress diary of Mrs Anne Sykes : secrets from a Victorian woman's wardrobe
Strasdin, Kate2024
Book
In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of her life and times. Her name was Mrs Anne Sykes. Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a fashion historian and museum curator. Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album's pages. Piece by piece, she charts Anne's journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years. 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.
Main title:
Author:
Strasdin, Kate, author
Imprint:
London : Vintage, 2024.
Collation:
320 pages : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: London: Chatto & Windus, 2023.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781529920819 (pbk)
Dewey class:
941.081092941.081 STR
Language:
English
Subject:
Sykes, Anne -- DiariesSykes, Anne -- TravelClothing and dress -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th centuryGreat Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th centuryTextile fabrics -- Social aspectsClothing and dress -- Social aspectsHistoryLancashire, Greater Manchester, MerseysideSingaporeBritish Empire19th century, c 1800 to c 1899History of art
BRN:
3724558